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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



A NIANUAL 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 



TRAINING CLASSES 

Compiled from various ^Arorks and especially from those ot 

JOSEPH LANDON, F.G.S. 



\'ice-principal and late niastiT of methods iu the Saltley Traiuiu^j 
colle>ie, author of "School ^ManuKement "' 




SYRACUSE, N. Y. 

C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER 

1899 



Copyright, 1899, by C. W. Bardeen 



39493 



'^^A^OCOflf o KiCeiVED. 




f Mf.I]*Ji.M9 









PREFACE 

The need of a book on the art of questioning which 
should cover the subject adequately and afford sufficient 
^reparation for the examination of training classes has 
iong been manifest. The little treatises of Fitch and 
Young, excellent in their way, have not been compre- 
hensive enough. By gathering into this volume from 
various sources all that seemed most worthy of atten- 
tion and most useful to pupils, it has been attempted 
to furnish a volume that would cover the subject and 
.afford ample preparation. 

.Syeacuse, N. Y., March 13, 1899 



(3) 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Chapter I — Introduction 1> 

history of the use of questions 9 

use of questions indispensable 10 

why brought into disrepute 11 

objections sometimes urged 11 

a valuable intellectual exercise 12 

what skilful questioning depends upon 13 

1. accurate and full knowledge 13 

2. power to analyze rapidly 13 

3. knowledge of the pupils 14 

4. experience 14 

5. mental quick-sightedness 14 

6. brightness of manner 15 

1. readiness of expression 15 

Chapter II — Kinds of Questions 16 

1. testing questions 16 

a. at the opening of the lesson 17 

h. during the teaching 18 

c. at tbe end of the lesson 19 

d. for examination 20 

2. training questions 20 

in the earlier stages 21 

in the later stages 21 

what success depends upon 22 

Socratic questioning 22 



6 THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

Page 

Socratic questioning, continued 

not proper training for children 22 

negative in character 23 

example of useful employment 24 

ellipses 26 

advantages 27 

illustrations 27 

1. a framework 30 

2. less formal 30 

3. brisk and animated 31 

4. change and relief 31 

5. rapid review 31 

6. simple language training 31 

cautions 32 

1. not to be used exclusively 32 

2. should both test and train 33 

3. must be filled promptly 34 

testing and training questions compared 34 

chief purposes of questions 35 

1. to develop information 35 

2. to obtain the information required 35 

3. to train the pupils 36 

4. to stimulate the pupils 36 

5. to focus attention 36 

6. to fix ideas presented 36 

7. to bring out the perspective 36 

8. to give variety 36 

Chapter III — Forms of Questions 37 

1 . definite 37 

2. direct 39 

3. pointed 31) 

4. unequivocal 40 



CONTENTS 7 

Page 

5. simply expressed 40 

6. requiring effort 42 

echo questions 42 

leading questions 43 

yes-or-no questions 44 

alternative questions 46 

7. reasonably difficult 47 

how to estimate the difficulty of questions 51 

8. varied in form and difficulty 52 

converse questions. 53 

9. connected in series 54 

rambling questions 57 

examination questions more discursive 57 

the steps from one question to another 57 

10. conversational 58 

questions should be spirited 59 

the tone of voice CO 

1 1 . well distributed 60 

Chapter IV — Qualities and Treatment of Answers... 64 

1. good answers 64 

a. exact in thought 65 

h. complete 66 

r. exact in language 67 

simplicity of wording 68 

d. prompt 69 

e. distinctly given 70 

■ 2. bad answers 70 

o. guessing 70 

b. reckless 71 

c careless 72 

d. volunteered information 73 



8 THE ART OF QUESTIONING 

Page 

2. bad answers, continued 

e. speculative 74- 

/. ridiculous 74 

3. dealing with answers 75 

a. commendation 70 

h. correction 7() 

c. amend ment 77 

d. repression 78 

c. self-criticism 78 

4. simultaneous answering 79 

advantages 80 

chief defects 80 

vigilance on the part of the teacher 81 

5. common mistakes 81 

a. particular form of answer expected 81 

h. answers unevenly distributed 82 

c. impatience on the part of the teacher 82 

d. prompting 8o 

e. repeating answers 8o 

f. wasting time 84 

Index 88 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

Questioning is perhaps the most valuable of all the 
teaching devices, and in one way or another it has been 
employed from quite early times. It was used, to the 
exclusion of other methods, by Socrates; and with him 
it was an instrument of discipline, as well as a means 
of unfolding information to the mind. Its value in 
restricting thought to one topic at a time doubtless led 
to its adoption in the preparation of those who were to 
be admitted into the early church; and, after the Re- 
formation, to the employment of " catechisms " and 
" question and answer books ". The distinct recogni- 
tion, however, of questioning as a device of great value 
in education, and one especially suited to the needs of 
school teaching, seems to have been the outcome of 
the impetus given to the development of new methods 
by such men as Pestalozzi, and does not date further 
back than the beginning of the present century ; while 
its common adoption in practice, and its employment 
in a deliberate and dexterous way, may be said to be 
the growth of the last fifty years. 

To question a class may seem, to one ignorant of 
teaching, a very simple thing to do, but it is not so 

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10 QUESTIONING INDISPENSABLE 

easy as it looks. Bacon says, " A wise question is the 
half of knowledge." To question and to question 
efficiently are two very dilferent things; and so much 
is involved in the latter that it is really one of the 
most difficult matters the teacher has to learn. Few 
things mark off more clearly the able teacher than 
really felicitous questioning; and in many cases the 
character and success of the work are determined hy it. 
It must not be supposed, however, that any one can 
1)ecome an expert questioner by merely reading about 
how it is to be done ; here, certainl}', " all is but lip-wis- 
dom thai wants experience.'" No device should be 
more persistently and patiently practised ; it should not 
be taken up in a mechanical half-hearted way, nor 
should the teacher rest content until he can question 
easily and skilfully in any direction needed. 

The frequent use of questions is absolutely indis- 
pensable in the teaching of the young, and no one who 
has learned to question well, and has realized the value 
of the process, will ever be likely to give it up. The 
fault, in the case of many teachers, is that they do 7iot 
use questioning nearly enough. At the same time, it 
must not be forgotten that questioning is not, as some 
would have us believe, the only device to be used in 
teaching, and is not to be used on all occasions and for 
all purposes. We do not cut bread with a razor, or 
prune trees with a sword, useful as the razor or the 
sword may be in its own particular way. 

Valuable as it is, (juestiouing cannot cover the whole 
work of teaching, and the attempt should not be made 
to stretch its province in this way. It is the natural 
complement of lecture and illustration, and should not 



imfropp:k methods 11 

usurp their provinces, tliough it miiy always in teach- 
ing be used advamageously in connection with them. 
In order that the teacher may learn to recognize where 
questions may be judiciously employed, he must attend 
carefully to the results of his efforts, as the necessary 
insight is mainly the outcome of experience. 

Many teachers use questioning as though it were an 
end in itself, and fail to see that it is easy to over- 
question to such an extent as to retard the teaching 
and smother up the point to be learned in a cloud of 
answers. This purposeless questioning has done much 
to bring the device into disi'epute. Directly the object 
is gained, the teacher should pass on. Anything 
beyond what is necessary for clear understanding and 
firm grasp only bewilders the children, and darkens 
what it should illuminate. Not unfrequently, too, in 
teaching, a large amount of time is wasted in endeav- 
oring to question from children ordinary matters of 
fact, which they can only learn by being told directly. 
To question again and again in the hope that the point 
may be guessed, or arrived at by a process of exhaus- 
tion, is to misunderstand completely the use of ques- 
tioning, and is not only stupid but blame-worthy. 

The objections sometimes urged against the use of 
questions — that they are a round-about and tedious 
mode of teaching, that they encourage a habit of rash 
speculation and guessing, that they discourage children 
by presenting too many difficulties, and so on — are 
scarcely worth consideration. They arise usually from 
a misconception of the real nature of questioning, and 
apply only to its wrong employment or abuse. The 
fact that such defects are common, is no argument for 



12 QUESTIONING A MEANS OF DISCIPLINE 

the abandonment of the device, but points distinctly 
to the necessity for learning to question properly. 

Questioning properly conducted is neither tedious 
nor confusing to children. As a matter of fact, they 
are always pleased to tell what they know; they like 
to be active, and to have their share in the work recog- 
nized. To answer questions is much more engaging 
work to them than to sit as passive listeners, and they 
are frequently more keenly alive, and more deeply in- 
terested, during questioning than in any other part of 
the work. As Richter says, "the questions of the 
teacher find more open ears than his answers." It is 
the teacher's fault if children feel answering to be a 
bore or are bewildered by a multiplicity of points of 
view. 

Good questioning is an intellectual exercise valuable 
to teacher and pupils alike, securing to the latter men- 
tal activity and clearness of comprehension,/ and keep- 
ing them constantly in contact with the work. It 
breaks down the formality of merely didactic teaching, 
gives a pleasant conversational tone to the lesson by 
allowing the children their share of the talking, and 
further it affords them a valuable training in readiness 
of thought and speech. In fact, questioning may be 
made one of the most powerful iiistruments at the 
teacher's disposal ; and this not only from the educa- 
tive side, but also from the disciplinary point of view. 
Effectively used it should spur the indolent, stimulate 
the sluggish, challenge the inattentive, restrain the 
forward, control the rash, expose the careless, encour- 
age the timid, and help the dull; and at the same time 
it should fully employ the more intelligent members 



ELEMENTS OF SKILFUL QUESTIONING 13 

of the class in such a way as to make available the 
knowledge of individuals foi" the benefit of all. 

Xevertheless questioning is not a quick method, 
albeit a sure one: even where legitimately employed it 
will usually take more time to question a fact from a 
child than to tell it to him directly. This has led 
some teaeliers, especially in America, to prefer a more 
direct mode of proceeding. But the longer way round 
is often the shorter way home. In the one case the 
cliild is made to think consecutively, and express his 
thoughts clearly, and thus his mind is exercised in a 
way highly conducive to tlioroughness; while in the 
other case he has oidy to listen, and thl>< childreti do 
very inipcrjcrth/. Even where the teacher's statements 
are repeated again and again, the pupils are very ai)t 
to jjick up the words only, and to fail to acquire any 
real knowledge of the underlying truths. 

Skilful questioning- d^^pcuds upou — 

1. Accurate and full kn(>wl<Mli»e on the part of 
the teacher, so that he may know exactly wliat to ask 
for, without having to pause or put several questions 
where one would do, and may see readily how best to 
bring out the relative bearing and importance of the 
various facts. 

AVant of knowledge is not so common as want of 
thoroughness. The teacher often knows his facts 
from one side, but thinks only in the words he has 
been accustomed to, and finds great ditHculty in turn- 
ing his points round and round so that the childi'en 
may arrive at clear and full ideas. 

2. Power to iiualyze rapidly any subject which 



14 THE ART OF QL^ESTIONHSTG 

needs to be broken up, and to simplify difiiculties by 
directing attention only to as much at a time as the 
children are ttble to grasp. 

Want of analytical power is a frequent failing in 
inexperienced teachers, arising generally from want of 
practice, coupled with defective observation, and the 
habit of accepting things without any apprehension of 
the difference between a general truth and the particu- 
lars upon which it is founded, or by which il; may be 
illustrated. 

li. Knowledge of tlie pupils, their needs, power, 
and previous acquirements; as well as of the way in 
which their minds may be best made to work in storing 
and in giving out information. 

The more thoroughly the teacher knows those under 
his charge, the moi^e judiciously directed and the more 
exactly suited to the needs of the case the questioning 
will be, the more easily will he detect the exact nature 
of any difliculty which the answering shows to exist, 
and the more effective will be his mode of overcom- 
ing it. 

■4. ExperitMice in the use of the device, so as to be 
able to question with ease, variety, and certainty, and 
to recognize intuitively when to stop. 

It is astonishing how few young teachers question 
well, or realize the importance of putting out all their 
energies to improve in this very essential part of their 
work. Purposeless questioning is one of the common- 
est of faults. 

5. Mental quicksi^iitediiess and good Judgment, 
which enable the teacher to rise above a mere mechani- 
cal following of rules. 



ELEMENTS OF SKILFUL QUESTIONIX(i 15 

Tact is necessary at all points in deciding what to do 
and what to leave nndone; as well as readiness of 
resource in seizing upon 2)oints of vantage, in "adapt- 
ing the means to varying and unforeseen circum- 
stances ", and in making the most profitable use of 
whatever may be given by the children in the way of 
answers. 

(>. Briglitiiess of manner, and such strong sym- 
pathy with children that they feel the stimulus and 
enter into their share of the work with eagerness. 

Many a teacher's work is marred by hesitancy and 
heaviness of manner. Few things damp the natural 
vivacity of children more effectually; to keep them 
active and full of ardor is half the battle, and this is 
especially true in the employment of questioning. 

7. Readiness of expression so as exactly to suit 
the questions to those under instruction, and to vary 
the form of a question on the instant if necessary. 

Ease in framing questions in a simple, brief, and 
direct way tells powerfully towards success in teach- 
ing, but it demands much cjuickness of appreciation 
and skill in the use of words. Teachers frequently 
fail in these particulars, and the questions are conse- 
quently clumsily-worded or round-abont, and the exer- 
cise becomes slow and uninteresting. 



CHAPTER II 



KINDS OF QUESTIONS 



It is quite common, in the treatment of questions 
from the theoretical standpoint, to find a more or less 
minute classification of them given, in which certain 
names are applied to the various groups according to 
the slightly different objects with which they are em- 
ployed. Thus at different times, though by no single 
writer, questions used in particular ways have been 
called preliminary, tentative, testing, assaying, recapit- 
ulatory, examinatory, experimental, catechetical, edu- 
cative, Socratic, illustrative, instructive, etc. Some of 
these terms are of course but different names for the 
same thing; but any such ehiborate scheme as is here 
referred to is of no practical value; in fact it is apt to 
confuse rather than assist the teacher, and tends to 
cloud over the essential features which mark the two 
great and distinct classes, viz.. Testing Questions and 
Training Questions. These differ in their nature, their 
aim, and their mode of use; and for the ordinary pur- 
poses of teaching it is heljiful, and it is sufficient, to 
consider all questions as belonging to one or other of 
these groups. 

1. Testing' questions. — The distinguishing mark 
of testing questions is that they seek to secure from 
the child the re-expression of something he is supposed 
to have learned — either during the lesson, or previously 

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TESTING QUESTIONS 17 

— in order that he may know it more securely by hav- 
ing again to direct his attention to it, and in many cases 
by being made to state it in his own words. They 
demand for the most part an effort of memory in sup- 
plying the ideas asked for; and though the answers 
may necessitate clear understanding and some exercise 
of judgment, yet such questions turn the child's 
thoughts in a backward direction, and set him seeking 
for what is wanted among facts he has already acquired. 
It must not be supposed that questions of this kind do 
not require thought in order to answer them well, but 
they do not involve the discovery of anything new to 
the child. They should represent the ideas in the 
most natural order, and as far as possible cement them 
together in such a way as to form a coherent body of 
information; so tliat the recollection of them may be 
aided by the influence of that " association " which acts 
so powerfully in the case of memory. 

Nothing tells the teacher more about his work, or 
may be made more helpful in pointing out where his 
practice needs amendment, than a judicious use of 
questions. They test the ([uality of the teaching, by 
showing him how far the facts given have been well 
learned, and in what manner they are arranged in the 
child's mind; and they further afford the teacher 
actual proof of the amount of information which has 
been gained. 

Testing questions, then, ask directly for facts, and 
bring them to light again for various reasons and pur- 
poses. The chief of these are the following : — 

(a) At the opening? of a lesson they enlighten the 
teacher as to what knowledge the children possess, 



18 KINDS OF (QUESTIONS 

either of a related or similar kind, which may be made 
the ground-work of the teaching; and show him not 
only how much it will be wise to attempt, but also 
where best to begin. They help the children to dis- 
criminate between what they know and what they do 
not know, and by thus defining the limits of the known 
enable them to make the passage to the unknown with 
greater certainty and success. Skilfully used such 
preliminary questions turn the minds of the scholars 
into the right groove, as it were, prepare them for 
what the teacher is going to say, and set them fairly 
on their course. They open up a subject ])y showing 
in what direction learning is to take place, arouse a 
desire for knowledge by exciting interest and curiosity, 
and stimulate the children by affording a glimpse of 
possibilities. 

(h) During' the teacliiiii? testing questions are in 
a high degree useful in directing the thought and 
effort of the children, and in banishing any haziness of 
conception or inaccuracy of apprehension; while at the 
same time they form the most serviceable and trust- 
worthy means which the teacher has at his disposal of 
discovering how far he has been understood, and the 
cause of any failure which may become apparent. He 
is thus able to determine readily where his work has 
been too difficult, too vague, or too hurried; and is led 
to see in what direction increased caution is necessary, 
what gaps leading to error have to be stopped, what 
weak places need strengthening, or where further ex- 
planation or illustration is required. Such question- 
ing also affords him opportunities of putting miscon- 
ceptions right; and offers him a safe guide, not only 



TESTING QITESTIONS 19 

as to whether the lesson is level with the child's com- 
prehension, but also as to the speed with which the 
teaching should be given. 

Frequently, before an explanation is given, a few ques- 
tions are valuable to prepare the children's minds for 
what is coming, to narrow the mental view to the 
single diflficulty in hand, to remove obstacles to under- 
standing, and to enable the teacher to make out the 
best mode of approach. Unless the children are thus 
led to appreciate the nature of the diflficulty, and to 
feel their want, the explanation is apt to be unheeded. 
" Food proffered where there is no appetite is nauseat- 
ing; information proffered prematurely is worse than 
wasted." 

(c) At the eiul of the lesson questioning may be 
employed with great advantage for the purpose of fix- 
ing the facts taught, of making good the connection 
between them, and of giving emphasis to the most im- 
portant points in such a way as to put the whole into 
proper perspective. It is astonishing how little of a 
lesson children remember, even when well taught, 
and how fragmentary and unsatisfactory their informa- 
tion soon t)ecomes, unless it is tested and impressed 
again and again by rapid, searching, and vigorous 
questioning in the way of recapitulation or review. 
In many cases they fail to grasp the facts even at the 
time, and the systematic employment of testing ques- 
tions at stated periods in the lesson affords the best 
means of supplying deficiencies and of correcting 
errors. It is never safe to assume that children know 
what they are supposed to have learned until it has been 
proved by questioning. 



20 KINDS OF QUESTIONS 

The practice of frequently testing knowledge by ques- 
tioning is valuable from both the point of view of learn- 
ing and that of discipline. If the child knows he will 
be required to give back what has l:)een presented to 
him he is much more likely to listen attentively than 
where such exercise is omitted. To ])e of use, how- 
ever, testing questions must be sufficiently searching 
to determine how far the child has understood and 
remembered what has been taught, and must not be 
confined to asking merely for a few points which even 
inattentive children can give. 

(d) For exaiuiiiatiou these are of course the kind 
of questions used. 

2. Training qnestions. — The chief characteristic 
of training questions is that they seek to lead the child 
to discover new facts for himself by guiding him 
through easy processes of thought or reasoning. That 
which is known is used as material out of which, by 
suitable treatment, fresh ideas may be developed. The 
old information is brought to light that new may be 
evolved out of it, the one leading up to and into the 
other. Training questions thus involve a seeking for- 
ward, not backward. They may be said to put infor- 
mation into the mind, and this in such a way as to call 
out into active exercise such powers as the child pos- 
sesses. It is therefore easy to see why such questions 
have been termed educative or instructive. They are 
also illustrative, inasmuch as they throw light on what 
is known, and this in a manner calculated to bring out 
all it implies and show its bearings in relation to other 
matters. It is also clear that they cannot be used in 
all cases, but only where an extension of the child's 



TRAINING QUESTIONS 21 

knowledge, or power, can be secured by bis own efforts, 
without direct communication from the teacher. 

Ill the earlier stagt^'^jj before the chikl can be prop- 
erly said to be able to reason, training questiorfs should 
be mainly directed to the eliciting of relationships be- 
tween the facts which are brought before him, these 
involving for the most part only such matters as can 
be observed; or interdependence of the simplest kind 
as cause and effect. 

In the later stages of a child's school career the 
great use of training questions is to present easy steps 
of analysis until a general conclusion can be reached; 
or to elicit inference after inference in a way which 
will lead to the appreciation of logical connection, and 
exercise the pupil in continuous thinking. A most 
valuable training of the intelligence is thus secured; 
and all investment in intellectual activity will pay a 
dividend. Nothing encourages a child more than to 
show him how much he can accomplish for himself, if 
he puts out his strength in the right way. The con- 
quest of difltii'ulty invigorates him; and what he thus 
learns has a fuller meaning for him, and is much more 
permanent, than what he is simply told. 

The comparative neglect into which training ques- 
tioning has fallen is doubtless to be traced to the crav- 
ing for putting everything into a cut-and-dried form, 
so that it may be ready for easy quotatiou during 
examination. It is urged, and correctly so far, that 
trainiiig questioning is not an m-s// and expeditiou--i means 
of storing information; but it is deplorable that this 
latter should be made almost the only end of educa- 
tion. " The time spent in questioning with a view to 



22 KINDS OF QL'ESTIOXS 

train cannot be spent in carting in knowledge with a 
view to tnrn it ont again on demand.'" 

The success with which training questions are em- 
ployed will depend largely on the teacher's skill in 
suggesting lines of search, and in keeping the inquiry 
within projier limits. He has to stimulate the children 
to make the necessary effort, and to give help judiciously 
where a difficulty presents itself too great for them to 
overcome unaided. He must be perfectly clear as to 
what he wishes to arrive at, and must put his questions 
in sucli a way as to lead in the right direction. The 
most consummate adroitness is sometimes necessary in 
order to carry out these points ethciently. 

Socratic quest ioiiiii;;? and training questioning are 
often spoken of as though the two terms were in all 
respects synonymous; and specimens of Socratic dia- 
logue are frequently given, as though by imitation of 
these a correct method would be arrived at for use with 
children. But anything like a careful examination of 
the dialogues given by Plato and Xenophon will surely 
reveal how completely unlike, in most cases, the 
method is to proper training questioning for children. 
Commonly the teacher is not even warned that there 
are two very distinct phases of the Socratic method — 
the ironical one, and the developing one. True, the 
principle of the latter is a correct one in ordinary teach- 
ing, aiming as it does at giving birth to mental activity 
and discovery by the pupil himself; but even here it 
is the principle itself wliich is of value, not the way in 
which Socrates employed it, and the teacher who 
fashioned his teaching upon the model of Socrates's 



SOCRATIC QUESTIONING 23 

ordinary method of procedure would almost inevitably 
go wrong. 

Socrates liad not the spirit of a teacher of little chil- 
dren, and judging from his practice as vve know it he 
would certainly in that capacity have been a failure. 
He usually drocc his hearers to the conclusion he 
wanted ; it is the business of the teacher of children to 
guide and lead, and they require much more help and 
direct explanation, interspersed with the questions, 
than the ordinary Socratic dialogue would give. 

Socrates was in almost all cases dealing with adults, 
and often well-trained and acute adults, so that in 
many instances he directed his questioning to convict 
them of ignorafuce, or to confound them by leading 
them into ditiiculties. His method was frequently 
subtle and artful; and he was not above leading his 
interlocutor astray in order to entrap him and jeer at 
his confusion. Now surely all this is wrong in dealing 
with children. Except in the rare case of a rash and 
conceited pupil, we do not want to disconcert them by 
convincing them how ignorant they are, and how value- 
less is what they know; but rather by our questioning 
to make clear to them how far they know accurately, 
and show them what they need. With children em- 
ployment of ridicule at all needs careful management, 
and it should form no regular part of a method of 
teaching. 

Apart even from the object ionable features men- 
tioned, the Socratic method, if carried out in detail, is 
too negative in character, and gives far too little in- 
formation, to be suitable for connnon use in schools. 
Employed, however, in a ki]idly way, for a s})ecial pur- 



24 KINDS OF QUESTIONS 

pose, and with discrimination by a skilled teacher, the 
method may be used occasinally with good eifect. 
Fitch, in his "Art of Questioning " (pp. 53-55) gives an 
excellent example of the power of Socratic question- 
ing. The following dialogue from Mr. Thring's Theory 
.and Practice of Teaching is an admirable instance of 
this. Perhaps the most useful point for the teacher 
to remember about the Socratic dialogue is its sequence 
and amnection — the cross examination to bring out the 
truth without any break in thought. 

Mader. — Did you ever hear of Fortunatus's purse ? 

Birys (two or three). — Oh yes, it always had money 
in it. 

71/. — Would you like to have one ? 

B. — I should just think so, rather. 

M. — Why don't you get one ? 

B. — Oh, ifs only a Fairy-story ; don't I wish I could ! 

M. — Wliat! you don't mean to say you don't be- 
lieve it ? 

B. — Of course not. Who believes in Fairy-stories ? 

M. — I do: really, now, don't you know where the 
jjurse hangs ? 

B. (quite puzzled). — No. 

il/. — Fairy purses hang on the Fairy-tree, to be sure; 
I have one. 

B. (incredulous). — You don't say so ? 

M. — But I do (pulling out a shilling); that came 
from it. 

B. (very much taken aback). — Are you serious V 

M. — Quite serious. AVhere did this shilling come 
from ? 

B. — Oh, it's yours. 



FKAMING QUESTIONS 25 

M. — Xo doubt. I did not steal it, I hope, but how 
did it become mine ? 

B. — Oh, I suppose you were paid for keeping school, 

M. — Well, why don't you keep school ? You told 
me you would like some money. 

^.— I can't. 

3f.— Why not ? 

B. — I don't know enough. 

M. — Oh! but what has that to do with it ? 

B. — Of course you must have knowledge to keep a 
school. 

M. — Indeed! Do you mean to tell me that my 
knowledge turned into money! 

5'.— Yes. 

il/.— What! This shilling part of a Greek verb ? 

B. (laughing). — I suppose so. 

M. — What are you, pray, doing here ? 

B. — Oh! we come to learn. 

M. — N^ot to get knowledge, surely ? 

B. — Of course we do, though. 

M. — You don't mean to say you are climbing the 
tree of knowledge ? 

B. (twinkling somewhat). — Well! I suppose so. 

M. — To go back: Where does the Fairy-tree grow ? 

B. (promptly). — In Fairy-land, to be sure. 

M. — You forget. I said I had climbed it. 

B. (dubiously). — Xo, I don't. Is it the tree of 
knowledge ? 



26 KINDS OF QUESTIONS 

M. — Where did my shilling come from ? 

B. — From the knowledge you have. 

M. — But where does the Fairy-purse hang ? 

B. — You told me on the Fairy-tree. 

M. — But the shilling came from the Fairy-purse. 

5.— 0-o-h-h! ! 

M. — And you agreed that the Fairy-purse hangs on 
the Fairy-tree. Now, what is the Fairy-tree ? 

B. — It is the tree of knowledge. 

31. — And yott told me that the Fairy-tree of coarse 
grew — in ? 

73.— 0-o-h-h! Fairy-land. 

M. — And Fairy -land is ? 

B. (many broad grins). — School. 

Ellipses. — By an ellipsis in teaching is meant the 
omission of one or more words at the end of a state- 
ment, on the understanding that these missing words 
are to he supplied by the children. That ellipses may 
fulfil their object in the best way, they must not be 
mere chance statements made in the course of the 
teaching, but must be specially framed to admit of just 
that being supplied which the teacher wishes to obtain 
from the children. 

The function of ellipses is to a large extent that of 
easy questions, and they are often employed in ques- 
tions; but they are sufficiently distinct in form, and 
have sufficient advantages of their own, to render them 
worthy of consideration as a separate device. 



ELLIPSES — AN ILLUSTRATION 



27 



^^•fe. 




David Stow, 1793-1864 



Advantages. — We owe the introduction of ellipses 
into common use to David 
Stow, who made them a part 
of his system of training. He 
considered that their employ- 
ment aIo7i(j ivith questions 
formed a more efficient in- 
strument for developing the 
faculties than questions 
alone. However this may be, 
at least one thing is certain, 
that, employed in the right 
way and with proper restrictions, ellipses may be made 
of considerable service in teaching. The greater the 
number of the devices which the teacher can employ 
readily and effectively, that is, the greater the number 
of ways he has at his command of doing with skill and 
certainty what is required of him, the easier will be his 
work to himself and the more helpful and satisfactory 
to his pupils. As an illustration of Dr. Stow's system,. 
we quote the following from his " Training System " 
(edition of 1853, pp. o5G, 305) : 

" I must tell you that Saul, the king of Israel, hated 
David, because he knew that God had chosen David to 
succeed him, instead of Jonathan, Saul's son. He 
therefore persecuted David, and sought every oppor- 
tunity of killing him. David therefore was... afraid 
fmd //erf,* but God kept him from... Aarm. And after 



* " Every word in italics is supposed to be the answer 
of the children; the pauses marked thus... show where 
the trainer forms an ellipsis, which (by the children) 



2>! KINDS OF QUESTIONS 

David was saved from his... enemies, what did he say? 
Look at your hooks... but the Lord was my stay. Tell 
me what the meaning of the word stay is '? What is 
a stay ? (Silent)^^ 

" Familiar Illustration. — Allow me to ask, have 
you seen peas growing in a garden ? Yes, Sir. When 
the peas were grown a few inches above ground, what 
have you seen the gardener do to them ? Stick them. 
What is the use of sticking them ? To keep them up. 
The gardener stayed or supported the... peas. One 
child calls out, he stayed the pea sticks, Sir. Think for a 
moment, children. Did the gardener stay the sticks ? 
He stayed the peas. Well, then, the gardener stayed or 
supported the peas hy... sticks. Each stick that sup- 
ported or held up one of the peas, was to that pea — 

is afterwards answered and filled up by the words in 
italics. While in the initiatory, or earliest stage, a 
single word or at most only two are left out, but which 
must of course embody the meaning of the sentence, 
else an ellipsis would be a mere guess, and not train- 
ing; yet as the children advance in knowledge and 
facility of expression, several words at a time may be 
left out. These ellipses fill in the innumerable inter- 
stices which no direct questions can supply." 

* "Unless the children have committed to memory 
some technical answer, generally speaking, they will 
remain silent. The trainer, therefore, may put the 
(question in two, or three, or more forms, before he 
receives, or even expects an answer — each question 
being more and more simple and apposite, and each, 
of course, exercising the understanding of his pupils." 



ELLIPSES — AX ILLUSTRATION 29 

What was it '? A stay. The pea, you know, has little 
fibres, caWed... tendri Is ; you remember we had a gallery 
lesson upon creeping plants lately. The pea seizes 
hold of the. ..dicks with...it.-< tendrils. 

" Are the peas able to stand upright of themselves 
like a tree ? They are ircak — theij hare .stich. Very 
weak, and they would fall if they had no sticks to... 
keep them up. Very right. The pea requires something 
to keep it... /ro/;* /a// (■»//. And without being stayed it 
...woiddnot grow. Would it not grow? It would not 
grow up. It would . . .fall. Tell me now what the stick 
is to the pea ? A sta}/. A staff to an old man on which 
he leans is... a stick. Very true, it is a stick; but the 
stick or staff to liim is...(; stay — it... keep.f him up. 

" And when the wall of a house threatens to fall, and 
beams of wood are placed against it to... keep it up — 
what are these beams called V They are thick. True, 
they are thick, bat what are they to the house ? (No 
answer. )* The stick kept the pea f rom. . .falling. What 
do the beams to the wall ? Keep it from jailing. — Stays, 
Sir. 

"• Anything on which we lean, or cling to for support 
may be called... a stay. If any of you children are 
acquainted with ships, you will know that part of the 
rigging is supported by stays. / k)toiv about ships, ma- 
ster, my grandfather lives (U the .sea-side. Very well, boy, 
you can tell what the rigging of a vessel is stayed by ':* 
Ropes. The ropes tied up in a particular way by... 
Whom'? The sailors — keep up the...sa'//,s and other 



* " The trainer must now go over the outlines of the 
former illustrations." 



30 KINDS OF QUESTIONS 

parts... 0/ tlie rigging. What do you call the ropes 
when used in this way ? Stays. 

"A staff to an old frail man may be called... a stay. 
And you told me what the pea requires to keep it up ? 
A stick — or... stay. A beam to the gable of a house 
likely to fall, what did you say the beam was?. A stay. 
You will remember what was said about ivy clinging 
to trees, and... bushes; these trees and bushes were to 
the lYy... stays. Suppose I were weak and unable to 
stand upon my feet, and some of you held me up, what 
would you be to me ? A stay.''"' 

On this subject Young gives some excellent sugges- 
tions and illustrations (Art of Putting Questions, pp. 
41-46). The following are some of the advantages of 
ellipses. 

1. A framework. — iVs before mentioned the child's 
difficulties in answering a question are twofold — the 
finding of the right idea, and the expression of this in 
suitable language when found. Xow ellipses are pur- 
posely framed to remove, as far as needful, one of these 
difficulties by giving the framework of the reply, so 
that the mind is left free to exert its power on the dis- 
covery of the thought or fact required. 

2. They are less formal, and affect the pupils less 
like a direct challenge, than questions. The teacher 
seems to the children to take his part more as one of 
themselves than as one intent upon giving them definite 
instruction, while his work is brought into such direct 
contract with theirs that the result appears as a joint 
effort. Hence ellipses tend to give confidence and 
encouragement to little children, who are apt to be shy 



ELLIPSES 31 

and timorous when anything is demanded from them 
in a formal way. 

3. The briskness and animation of the exercise are 
advantages. The ellipses are filled in rapidly and the 
lesson kept moving ; and if they are skilfully put the 
interest of the children is excited, and consequently 
their attention arrested. Further, activity and cheer- 
fulness are secured; and, after all, these are two very 
important things in the case of young children, even if 
but little information is given. 

4. (Ihailge and relief from severer questioning are 
considerations. To continue any one device, no mat- 
ter how valuable, for too long a time is simply to weary 
the children; and after more dii^icult work a short 
series of ellipses will be found to refresh and brighten 
the class. 

5. Rapid review. — They are useful also in running 
quickly over a series of points again to bring the latter 
distinctly before the children's minds before proceed- 
ing to some further point, so that the connection may 
be clear; and in summing up or rapid review they may 
frequently be made to serve a similar purpose. 

0. Simple laiiguag:e-tr{iiuiiig". — To some extent 
the employment of ellipses affords a simple and useful 
training in language. The complete statements accus- 
tom the child to correct forms, and serve the purpose 
pretty much of a series of model answers to more 
direct and difficult questions which might have been 
asked. In fact in some cases it is useful, after an 
ellipsis has been filled in, to put a question demanding 
the complete statement for answer. By filling in 



32 KINDS OF QUESTIONS 

ellipses, too, the child learns the correct use of the 
words supplied, and so improves his vocabulary. 

Cautions. — The considerations given above lead dis- 
tinctly to the conclusion that ellipses may be suitably 
and wisely resorted to as a common device in the teach- 
ing of young children ; but that the higher we go in 
the school the less frequent should be their employ- 
ment, until in the upper classes their use should be 
confined to special cases, or cease altogether. 

With infant classes they form a stirring and encour- 
aging exercise ; but, since, as a rule, they demand but 
little thought, anything like frequent employment with 
elder classes would lead to a waste of time and eventu- 
ally to a disinclination to the strenuous and continuous 
effort to which it is important to accustom older schol- 
ars. Much will, however, depend upon the good judg- 
ment and skill of the teacher, and it would be unwise 
to lay down any hard and fast rule as to how far the 
use of ellipses should extend. 

1. Not to be used exclusively. — In no case should 
the teacher rely solely upon the use of ellipses. If 
these are employed exclusively, the children soon learn 
to fill them in mechanically, and a superficiality of 
attention is engendered, which looks only for tlie word 
without proper grasp of the underlying idea. Stow 
insists very strongly on the constant admixture of 
questions and ellipses in differing proportions accord- 
ing to the age of the class. Used in connection they 
assist and support each other. 

Stow says: " Questioning is simply developing or 
leading out. It is not training until the child's ideas 



ELLIPSES 33 

are not merely led out by questioning, but led on by 
ellipses and questions combined There must uni- 
formly be an analysis, based on siviple familiar illustra- 
tmis, and conducted by questions and ellipses mixed, 
which must be within the extent of the knowledge and 
experience of the children present." 

2. Should botli test and train. — In the first case, 
they must not be given in a haphazard way, but should 
be expressly framed to elicit jvhat the children have 
learned: for, if they require points upon which no pre- 
vious teaching has been given, tbey will not be filled in 
with the requisite certainty. In the second case, they 
must be sufficiently easy for each step to be readily 
followed, so that the children are assisted in reasoning 
in a very simple way for themselves. 

They must not be too easy ; the word or words left 
for the pupils to fill in should necessitate the finding 
of an idea, and must be sufficiently important to 
ensure a certaiii amoimt of effort. Care should also 
be taken to avoid the common fault of suggesting too 
much. In no case should merely half a word be 
required, so that only the final syllable, perhaps, 
remains to be given. The difficulty of what is to be 
supplied will depend upon the class : with the younger 
children it should be a single and fairly obvious word; 
with more advanced scholars it may be a more difficult 
word or phrase. 

Vagueness is another fault to be avoided. This is 
pretty certain to lead to guessing of a useless and harm- 
ful kind. If ellipses are so framed that a number of 
different words may be filled in, and yet make sense of 
the statement, the definite and uniform answer which 



o4 KINDS OF QUESTIONS 

the teacher wants is not forthcoming. Some say one 
thing and some another, and confusion results. 

3. Promptness. — The usefulness of ellipses depends 
in a great measure on their being filled in simultane- 
ously ; hence, except in very special cases, they should 
be addressed to the class as a whole, and the reply 
should be given by all. Smartness and movement are 
essential. If an ellipsis is not filled in, it is rarely of 
use to put it over again in the same form ; as a rule it 
is better to go back a step and approach the point 
again in another way. 

Ellipses are subject to the same defects, and liable 
to the same abuses, as questions to which simultaneous 
answers are expected. Where they are not well em- 
ployed they lead to much unnecessary noise, and may 
readily become absolutely worthless. The ease with 
which they may be used is seductive but delusive, for 
their skilful employment is much more difficult than 
it seems; and the show of work made is very apt to 
deceive the teacher as to the reality of what is done. 
Unless he is vigilant in looking out for those who do 
not reply, and listens carefully for imperfect responses, 
a considerable proportion of the pupils may be mentally 
idle, and either not take the trouble to answer at all, or 
trust to their neighbors to give them the cue to the right 
word. The evil effects of the bad habits thus formed 
it is unnecessary to dwell upon ; but the teacher should 
be fully alive to the fact that ellipses need quite as 
much care and Judgment to use properly as any other 
teaching device. 

The iiietliods eoiiipjired. — It will perhaps assist 



THE METHODS COMPAKED 



35 



the clear appreciation of the characteristics of testing 
and training questions if we map out their chief points 
of contrast as follows: 



Testing Questions 
1. Appeal mainly to memory and 

iinderstandinfT. 
9. Turn attention backwards upon 

the known. 

3. Travel over ground already sur- 
veyed for the purpose of testing the 
quality and quantity of the work. 
Discover what the pupil has found 
out. 

4. Fix acquired truths t)y bringing 
them again to light, and are thus 
said to question information out of 
the child's mind. 

5. Call upon the child to pause and 
examine what he has acquired. 

6. Demand answers depending up- 
on accurate knowledge and readi- 
ness in finding and expressing it. 

7. May be employed in connection 
with all subjects. 

8. Enlighten the teacher as to the 
nature of his success and the value 
of his method. 



Training QtrESTioNS 

1. Appeal chiefly to reasoning and 
the conceptive faculty. 

2. Direct attention forwards to the 
unknown. 

3. Carry thought into new regions 
so as to lead to further acquisition 
of knowledge. Find out what the 
pupil can discover. 

4. Develop new truths out of what 
is already known, and are thus said 
to question information into the 
child's mind. 

5. Call upon the child to progress 
by mean.s of what he has acquired. 

6. Demand answers depending up- 
on insight and the power of the 
children to think connectedly. 

7. Are limited in application main- 
ly to matters which can be reasoned 
out. 

8. Enlighten the children as to the 
bearing and development of what 
they know. 



The chief purposes for which questions may be 
profitably employed in teaching are the following: 

1. To develop iiiforniatioii by appealing to the 
children's reason, previous experience, or • present 
observation. The questioning should give point and 
meaning to what is already known, and open up a view 
of the details which probably has not before attracted 
attention. 

2. To test the iiifonuatioii supposed to have been 
gained, either from previous work, or as a result of the 
teaching given in the lesson, and so to enable the 



36 KINDS OF QUESTIONS 

teacher to adapt his procedure exactly to the require- 
ments of the case. 

3. To train tlie pupils by guiding them through 
easy processes of observation, thought, or conception ; 
as well as to afford them a useful exercise in rapidity 
of apprehension, and in ready expression of their ideas 
with neatness, exactness, and force. 

4. To stimulate the pupils to use to the utmost 
such power as they possess ; to awaken curiosity as to 
coming knowledge, so that they may have a desire to 
know more; and to increase interest in the work by 
calling upon them to take their proper share in it. 

5. To focus attention and intellectual effort upon 
one point at a time, and so help the children by direct- 
ing the mental gaze and excluding the consideration of 
everything but the matter in hand. 

(>. To fix the ideas which have been presented to 
the child by causing them to be again l^rought into 
conscious existence in varied form and definite order — 
through the agency of repetition, recapitulation, or 
review — a sufficient number of times to secure per- 
manency. 

7. To hrini;? out the perspective of facts by dwell- 
ing most forcibly upon the more essential matters, and 
to assist the children in realizing the logical connection 
and relationship of the ideas. 

8. To g'ive variety in the method of teaching, and 
prevent the deadening effect of sameness of treatment ; 
or possibly to inspirit a flagging class, and give bright- 
ness, pleasantness, and " go " to the lesson. 



CHAPTER III 



FORMS OF QUESTIONS 



Questions, as applied to children in teaching, should, 
as we have seen, turn the mind's energy in one direc- 
tion, and thus, by narrowing the range of effort, put 
the pupil in the best position for performing his part in 
the lesson. They should guide him in his search for 
new facts, and exact of him in a reasonable way the 
reproduction of that which he has learned. Hence 
questions should be — 

1. Definite. — A very common defect in questions is 
their want of definiteness as to what is required. They 
should ask exactly for what is needed, and nothing but 
that. Thus, as far as possible, a question should admit 
of only one answer, and though the teacher may not 
always be able to reach this standard it should be aimed 
at. Vagueness in the questions is a great enemy to 
anything like clear and exact thought on the part of 
the child. An ambiguous question, to which it is pos- 
sible for him to give several answers, each of which is 
a correct reply to the question, is apt to confuse him 
by the possibilities open to him; and, feeling that the 
teacher only wants one reply, he either hazards a guess, 
or lets the opportunity pass in trying to decide what 
answer to give. 

All such ambiguous questions as " What is the river 
Severn like?" "What sort of story is the one you 

(87) 



38 FORMS OF QUESTIONS 

have been reading?" "What do they do in quar- 
ries ? " " What should you say Gibraltar is made of ? "" 
" What do we eat to keep us alive?" are to be care- 
fully avoided. They simply diffuse instead of concen- 
trating the child's attention, and serve no useful pur- 
pose whatever. Young gives this illustration : 
'" Who was Joshua?" 

" The son of Xun." 

" No, no; I mean what was Joshua ? " 

" The leader of the Israelites." 

" Well, yes; but what was he in relation to Moses?"' 

" He was no relation to Moses, sir." 

" Well, but in his office what was he ? " 

(Xo answer.) 

" Boys! was he not the successor to Moses ? " 

Then follows a loud " Yes, sir ", and a considerable 
confusion and clearing of throats. 

Fitch well says (p. G7) : 

" Vague and indefinite questions, I have always 
observed, produce three different results, according to 
the class of children to whom they are addressed. The 
really thoughtful and sensible boy is simply bewildered 
by them. He is very anxious to be right, but he is 
not clear as to what answer his teacher expects; so he 
is silent, looks puzzled, and is, perhaps, mistaken for 
a dunce. The bold and confident boy who does not 
think, when he hears a vague question answers at ran- 
dom ; he is not quite sure whether he is right or wrong, 
but he tries the experiment, and is thus strengthened 
in a habit of inaccuracy, and encouraged in the mis- 
chievous practice of guessing. There is a third class 
of children whom I have noticed, not very keen, but 



DEFINITE, DIRECT, POINTED 39 

sly and knowing nevertheless, who watch the teacher's 
peculiarities, know his methods, and soon acquire the 
knack of observing the structure of his sentences, so 
as to find out which answer he expects. They do not 
understand the subject so well, perhaps, as many 
others; but they understand the teacher better, and 
can more quickly pronounce the characteristic word or 
the particular answer he expects. Now I do not hesitate 
to say that, as far as real education and development 
of thought are concerned, each of these three classes 
of children is injured by the habit of vague, wide, and 
ambiguous questioning which is so common among 
teachers." 

'2. Direct. — Nor must the questions be allowed to 
wander from the subject, as they are very apt to do 
unless the teacher has his lesson well in hand, and 
frames his inquiries to elicit just what he wants. Ir- 
relevant questioning is oftener the result of indolence 
than of lack of skill. Something more is required in 
teaching than the loose and indirect form of question- 
ing commonly employed in ordinary conversation, al- 
though there should be the same freedom and ease. 
If the teacher asks questions without knowing where 
he is going, he will soon find both himself and his chil- 
dren adrift, and no real progress being made. 

3. Pointed. — Every question should be of value as 
a real part of the teaching, and have some distinct 
bearing and influence on the lesson. Sometimes a 
number of questions are asked without order, and in 
an aimless, drifting sort of way, merely to occupy time, 
or because the teacher feels that some questions ought 



40 FOEMS OF QUESTIONS 

to be asked. They begin anywhere and lead nowhere. 
The utter worthlessness of such questioning has been 
already referred to. 

4. ITiiequivocal. — If the child is to grasp the bear- 
ing of a question readily, it must be unequivocal in 
meaning, and sufficiently simple both in thought and 
language. The ideas must be well within the child's 
comprehension; and so long as clearness is secured, 
the shorter the question the better. 

5. Simply expressed. — In no part of his work is 
it more worth the teacher's while to be economical of 
words; and those used must be such as the child is 
accustomed to, so that whether the answer is forth- 
coming or not there is no doubt in his mind as to what 
is asked. There must be no useless verbiage in the 
way of introductory phrases, no round-about and con- 
sequently lengthy statements, and no unnecessary 
elaboration of idea. It is impossible to get children 
to think i^roperly when their energies are consumed in 
endeavoring to unravel the complexity of the question, 
or to discover its import. 

The proper choice of words in asking a question is a 
2>oint deserving of much attention. Several short ques- 
tions are better than one long one; and if the teacher 
finds that he has in his question taken too great a step 
at once, or has employed words too difficult for the 
children to understand — as he may easily do, especially 
in using technical terms — it is better for him to break 
up his question into easier ones, or to put it into another 
form, than to fill in the answer himself and pass on. 

All such round-about ways of beginning a question 



SIMPLY EXPRESSED 4i 

as "Now, my good children " "I shall be glad if 

you can tell me ," " JS'ow, if you try I am sure 

you will be able to say ," etc., etc., are to be 

avoided, not only as a waste of time, but as tending to 
confuse the child by taking his attention from the 
point of the question. 

Those who are unaccustomed to talk to children 
often find great difficulty in framing suitable and sim- 
ple questions, and sometimes fall into ludicrous mis- 
takes. Xo teacher would ever think of asking such a 
question as the following: " Will you be good enough 
to tell me, if you happen to remember from what you 
have been told or from what you have read, under 
what circumstances mercury placed in a long^ tube, 
closed at the upper end, rises or falls ? " Such a ques- 
tion is full of faults. 

A question may be clear as to meaning, and yet 
framed in such a clumsy or slipshod way as to be ob- 
jectionable, especially so when addressed to children. 
A faulty form, of very frequent occurrence in teaching, 
is one in which what should be a statement, or an 
ellipsis, is changed into a question by the additioii of 
some word or phrase that ought in most cases to have 
come first. The words usually employed for this pur- 
pose are wJiat^ ivhen, ivhere, how, and the like. 

For instance: " Falstaff was a very what?" " The 
man we spoke of went where ? " "Botany is the sci- 
ence of what?" "He ascertained which of the two 
mountains?" 

Another rather common error is for the teacher, 
either from carelessness or from not having thought 
•out his lesson properly, to begin a question and then 



42 FORMS OF QUESTIONS 

to alter the wording, it may be several times: e. g. 

" What is the function of what purpose do the 

leaves serve, of what use are they to the plant?" If 
a question has been begun wrongly, it is better to 
abandon it altogether than to patch and alter it until 
the children are confused. 

Sometimes again the mistake is made of welding into 
one two questions which ought to have been put sepa- 
rately, so that the children are in doubt as to which to 
answer first, and hence some say one thing some an- 
other. 

" What part of speech is the word sailed^ which word 
does it tell us something about?" "Who won the 
battle of Hastings, was it really fought at Hastings?" 
" Where does the river Thames rise, has it more than 
one source?" are instances, the climax of absurdity 
being reached in such forms as — " Who dragged whom 
round the walls of what city, and why?" 

6. Requiring eit'ort. — Questions which may be 
answered without any exercise of mind are not only 
valueless, but give rise to bad habits, and are apt to 
delude both the teacher and the children as to the 
amount learned. At the best they give undue promi- 
nence to those who are merely smart and quick, and 
consequently discourage the thoughtful; while they 
are almost certain to lead to rash guessing, carelessness, 
inattention, and superficiality. There are various 
types of these objectionable questions. 

Eclio questions. — In some cases the worthlessness 
of the question arises from the fact tliat it asks for in- 
formation which has been given as a statement the 



REQUIRING EFFORT 43 

moment before: as, "The Black Forest contains a 
great many fir-trees. What does tlie Black Forest con- 
tain ? " It is very easy for a teacher to get into a habit 
of using these "echo questions", as they have been 
termed. 

Leading" questions should be very rarely if ever 
employed in teaching. These merely ask for the 
assent of the pupil to something said by the teacher, 
or in some way or other suggest what is required. 

The clue to the answer may be conveyed to the pupil 
by the form of the question; by the emphasis laid, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, upon some particular word 
or phrase ; by inflection of the voice ; or, it may be, by 
some significant gesture, or the expression of the face. 
It is astonishing how quick children are in catching 
any suggestion from one they know, however uninten- 
tional it may be, and hence they may appear to answer 
well when questioned in this way while they really 
know little or nothing of the subject about which 
they are being asked. Aj^art even from any sug- 
gestion whatever, or fault in the questioning, they 
will answer a teacher to whom they are accustomed 
much more readily than when interrogated by a per- 
son whose manner and mode of questioning are quite 
strange to them. 

Such questions as — " Bricks are made of clay, are 
they not?" "Plants groio ; what is the difference 
between a plant and a Stone? " " Is not Snowdon a 
high mountain ? " " Does the Ganges enter the ocean 
by one mouth or by many channels f '' demand nothing 
from the child but a little attention. 

" Xever, if you can help it," says Fitch (p. 61) 



44 FORMS OF QUESTIONS 

" communicate a fact in your question. Contrive to 
educe every fact from the class." His whole treat- 
ment of this subject (pp. G1-G6) is most instructive. 

An example of stupefying mind by this wrong ques- 
tioning is given in Page's Theory and Practice, Syra- 
cuse edition, page 107. 

Yes or no questions. — It is customary to condemn 
the use in teaching of all questions which require only 
yes or no for answer (sometimes, but improperly, 
called " direct " questions) ; but this general condemna- 
tioii is too sweeping. Much depends upon whether 
the question calls for a decision between two alterna- 
tives, or does not ; the real point is, not whether tjie 
answer is "yes" or "no" but whether the question 
appeals to the child in a useful manner. If, as is com- 
monly the case, questions of this kind are put in such 
a way that there is practically no doubt as to the 
nature of the reply exjjected, and even the most 
thoughtless can answer them, then by all means they 
should be avoided by the teacher. Thus it often hap- 
pens that children know the answer is to be yes if the 
question ends with the rising inflection, and no if it 
ends with the falling. Many cases, however, arise in 
teaching, where a question may only demand " yes " 
•or " no ", but to decide correctly which of the two 
necessitates an exercise of Judgment, and it may be a 
difficult one, on the part of the pupil. There seems 
to be no reason why such questions should not be 
used, if judiciously employed, and if guessing is dis- 
couraged by frequently following up the reply with 
•other questions respecting the grounds upon which the 
.answer is based. 



YES OR XO QUESTIONS 45 

Sometimes a difficult question of the " yes " or " no " 
form is used merely to start an inquiry, or to direct 
attention to and excite an interest in the next point to 
be considered. The confirmation of either of the pos- 
sible replies is deferred for the time, and the matter 
decided by eliciting the facts which justify the one 
conclusion rather than the other, or l>y an appeal to 
experiment, or possibly by the association of both 
these plans. For instance, the teacher may have been 
explaining about the pressure of the air in all direc- 
tions, and ask, " If I fill a glass full of water, place a 
card over the mouth of the glass and turn it upside 
down, will the water run out ? " He listens to the 
expressions of opinion but does not definitely accept 
either one view or the other, and then proceeds to 
question those who take either side as to why they 
believe themselves to be correct. The children beinsf 
now thoroughly interested in the result, and fully pre- 
pared for the experiment, the teacher performs it and 
settles the point. In this way the experiment is much 
more clearly understood and remembered than if the 
result had been merely foretold by the teacher. The 
thoughtful members of tbe class are rewarded by the 
satisfaction of being right, and the rash or careless are 
tatight a useful lesson as to the necessity for cautious 
judgment, while both are stimulated to further effort. 

When children have been taught certain facts, and 
the teacher needs to gather up the ideas rapidly in 
order to pass to some further truth, the occasional tise 
of " yes or no " questions, mixed with others of easy 
form, is often justifiable as an expeditious method of 
marshalling his points in order that their bearing may 



46 FORMS OF QUESTIONS 

be made out. It is not thought, so much as ra]nd 
review, which is here wanted. Ordinary questioning 
would he too slow, while the plan just mentioned is 
often to be preferred to direct address as giving more 
variety and brightness to the work. 

Something might also be said for the occasional use 
of questions demanding "yes" or "no" with small 
children, where much encouragement is often neces- 
sary to get answers given at all, and these must be of 
the simplest possible character. 

Alteriiative questions. — Allied to the forms dis- 
cussed above are the questions which contain their own 
answers, and simply offer a clioice between two things, 
as — " Is iron a hard or a soft metal ? " "Is this green 
or blue ? " "Is the sun a hot or a cold body '? " As a 
rule, questions of this kind should certainly be shunned ; 
for, apart from the fact that they involve no intellect- 
ual effort, no form of question is so likely to lead to 
guessing. Even if nothing in the question, or in the 
mode of putting it, suggests what is wanted, the child 
knows he will be able to give the correct answer at a 
second try, at most, and therefore makes a shot at it. 

It is often amusing to watch a class questioned in 
this way. The moment the teacher has pronounced 
one of the possible replies wrong, out go the hands of 
those on the watch for such a chance; and, though 
they may know absolutely nothing about the sul)ject, 
they phime themselves on having answered the ques- 
tion. Where such a method of questioning is common 
many of the children Avill make no effort themselves, 
and watch again and again for the second opportunity. 



REASONABLY DIFFICULT 47 

7. Reasonably difficiilt. — It is not all uncommon 
to find teachers, who know little of children and are 
unable to look at things from their point of view, ask- 
ing questions which are far beyond the powers of those 
interrogated, and at times even such as would tax the 
powers of a trained mind to answer correctly. The 
difficulty to the pupil may arise from a variety of 
causes. 

In some instances the question includes so much as 
completely to bewilder the child, even when the de- 
tails are within his knowledge, and he would be able to 
give them correctly if asked for one at a time. He is 
unable to frame properly so long a statement as is re- 
quired; he finds great difficulty even in discovering 
where to begin, and being unable to think continuously 
without help he is pretty certain to give a very incom- 
plete reply, or to flounder his way through a sentence 
or two and break down. 

"How is a glacier formed?" "Why does a stick 
appear bent in water? " " What becomes of a shower 
of rain?" "What occurred when Cfesar came to 
Britain ? " " What were the circumstances in which 
William the conqueror met his death?" are examples 
of this kind of question. 

Sometimes the mistake is made of asking for informa- 
tion which the children cannot reasonably be expected 
to give. In many cases of this kind the facts asked 
for are such as it is the purpose of the lesson to teach , 
and, although they have not been touched upon in any 
way by the teacher, he puts the questions in the hope 
of their being answered from previous knowledge. He 
is misled by taking his own past experience for that 



48 FORMS OF QUESTIONS 

of the children, and fails to see that what many have 
been for a long time perfectly familiar to him, or 
brought under his notice almost daily, may, from the 
different character of their surroundings, be quite un- 
known to them. Xot only are such questions useless, 
but, if at all frequent, the failure to answer them tends 
to relax effort and to discourage the children, while 
the long pauses which are likely to occur take all the 
spirit out of the lesion. 

It is easy to fall into the error described in the case 
of terms not generally current but common enough 
in certain districts. The following actually occurred. 
A teacher was giving a lesson on the Manufacture of a 
Tea-cup and Saucer, and after describing the various 
materials and the way they are ground and mixed, he 
said, " jS'ow what is the white liquid made of all these 
things called ? " As no hand was raised he proceeded: 
"Well, surely some of you can tell me that; what is 
the liquid called? Come, do think," Perhaps, in 
the district from which the teacher came, most boys 
would have been able to give the reply, but no amount 
of thought would have enabled those in front of him 
to do so. 

Another common case of demanding too much from 
the pupil is asking questions which call upon him to 
give a definition, when nothing in the lesson has led 
up to it. It may seem an easy thing to answer such 
questions as " What is an animal ? " " AVhat is salt ? " 
"What is a plant?" and so on. ^o doubt the child 
knows the things when he sees them, but to give an 
adequate answer in cases like these is a matter of con- 
siderable difficulty. He has not only to settle upon 



eeaso:n"ably difficult 49 

the necessary distinguishing characteristics, but also 
to find the words whereby to express them in a neat and 
correct form ; and this he ought not to be expected to 
do until he has been prepared for it by the foregoing 
teaching. Even then it is generally better to direct 
attention to each point in turn by a series of questions, 
and to work up to the complete statement as the final 
step. When a child is asked point blank for a defini- 
tion he has not been taught, all he generally does is to 
give some obvious quality and omit the rest, or to 
mention an instance or an illustration. For example, 
a child asked " What is sin '? " is pretty certain to give 
some such reply as " stealing," " using bad language," 
" telling a lie," " being cruel," etc. 

If, when the teacher is about to ask for a definition, 
he would think what answer he himself would give, 
the question would probably be at once changed in 
form, or broken up into several; and, at least, he 
would be saved from looking upon the children as 
stupid on account of their faulty replies. Even where 
the definition is correctly approached, unnecessary 
anxiety is often shown to set forth simple things in a 
cut-and-dried formula, when really all that the child 
needs is clear ideas. 

The story is told that a gentleman once asked a 
class, " What is a window?" and, after rejecting such 
answers as, "A hole in the wall to let in the light," 
complained of the want of intelligence shown by the 
children. On being requested to give the reply he 
expected, he hesitated, and then said: "A window is 
an aperture Everybody knows what a window is." 



50 FOKMS OF QUESTIOXS 

Exactly, but it is not every oue who can express such 
knowledge in precisely the words expected. 

In dealing with young children the mistake is some- 
times made of asking questions which demand that a 
process of reasoning shall be gone through before the 
answer can be arrived at. Until the child's mind has 
been sufficiently developed it is impossible for him to 
give such a reply as is needed. He has first to be 
taught how to reason by placing before him two 
familiar things, directing attention to each in turn, 
then taking them in connection, and finally establish- 
ing a relation between them. Questions are bene of 
the greatest use, but they must be of the simplest 
description; and even wlien these early exercises can 
be managed with some success, a conclusion should be 
reached through a -serks- of questions,— not demanded 
as a single effort until the child can reason readily for 
himself. 

Some teachers are very fond of asking a simple ques- 
tion requiring a decision, and then following it up 
with — Why ? This is in many cases a more difficult 
exercise than is commonly recognized, and needs to 
be used with a good deal of discrimination. It may 
often be profitably employed in the case of elder chil- 
dren; but it should be borne in mind that to give 
reasons for a conclusion is generally more difficult than 
to arrive at a correct inference, and that consequently 
the question WJiy f should be sparingly used with little 
ones. A child will often, by a kind of instinctive 
judgment, arrive at the right answer, when he is quite 
unable to go back and state the grounds upon which 
he has based his reply. 



REASOJ^ABLY DIFFICULT 51 

Occasional questions beyond the power of the major- 
ity of the children may be used with advantage, in 
order to give the brighter members of the class a 
chance of putting out their strength, and to prevent 
them from growing listless and inattentive. Care must 
be exercised, however, not to take up too mucli time 
with the answers to such q^^estions. 

Sometimes, too, a hard question at the close of a 
lesson may be left for the children to ponder over and 
try to find out the answer for themselves. The point 
may easily be taken up again when the next lesson of 
the kind is given. 

Young even suggests (p. 20) that questions impossi- 
ble of answer be sometimes asked; as, " Where did 
Elijah die ? " "How far must parallel lines be produced 
before they meet ? " "To which of the two poles is 
Quito nearer V " Of course the purpose here is to fix 
firmly in mind the fact which makes an answer im- 
possible. 

As to whether the questioning is to be considered 
difficult or not will depend upon the. circumstances. 
It is a relative matter, not an absolute one. The chief 
considerations to be kept in mind in estimating the 
■difficulty of questions are the following: 

{a) The experience, knowledge, and power of appre- 
hension of the children. 

(b) The mode in which the questions are worded. 

(c) The nature of the mental exercise involved in 

giving the answers — e. <j., oljservation, recol- 
lection, judgment, reasoning. 
{d) The extent to which it is assumed that the child 



52 FORMS OF QUESTIONS 

can express his thoughts fluently in suitable 
language. 
(e) The strangeness or familiarity of the subject, 
and of the terms employed in connection 
with it. 
(/) The way in which the questions are connected 
in series, the difficulty of thinking being les- 
sened where each question leads the mind in 
the direction of the next. 
(g) The state of the class — that is, whether the chil- 
dren are fresh to their work, or tired owing to 
previous exercises, physical conditions, or any 
other cause. 
8. Varied in form and difficulty. — The teacher 
should be careful not to cast all his questions in the 
same mould or even to confine them to certain sot pat- 
terns. Children soon become accustomed to a particu- 
lar form (jf questioning, and this leads them to answer 
to a certain extent mechanically; while the work under 
such circumstances is liable to grow tedious and unin- 
teresting from the want of relief. Besides, to fi-ame 
all questions according to a few fixed models, no matter 
how correct these may be, shows such poverty of 
resource and want of skill in the use of language as 
seriously to detract from the value of the teaching. 

The words used in putting a question upon a fact 
should not, as a rule, be those which have been used 
in teaching it. 

Want of variety in the questioning is pretty certain 
to lead to a similar defect in the answering, and the 
pupil loses the benefit which comes from repeatedly 
having to express his knowledge in some new way. 



VAKIED 53 

Even when the same fact has to be asked for several 
times during the course of a lesson — as occurs again 
and again in practice — it is a mistake to use the same 
words on each occasion; for when the child recognizes 
that the question has been previously put he turns his 
mind back to find the answer lie gave before, whereas 
a new setting of the questioii would have led to an 
independent effort to find the right idea. 

When, again, a prejjared passage from a book has to 
be examined upon, and the remembrance of the ideas 
or contained facts is alone important, the words of 
the text should be avoided in framing the questions, 
and as far as possible the child should also be induced 
to express the answers in his own way. Unless this 
is done tlie teacher cannot be certain that the child 
knows; he may give the correct answer so far as words 
are concerned, but have no corresponding ideas. 

The wise teacher will vary the form and wording of 
his questions as much as possible; and if at first he 
finds himself unable to accomplish all he could wish 
in this matter, a little earnest practice will soon remove 
most of the difficulty. More teachers fail in this and 
in other respects from not knowing what to aim at, 
or from not taking sufficient pains to learn, than from 
any lack of ability. 

Converse questions. — In employing questions for 
securing the repetition of some important point, it is 
often necessary to transform a question again and 
again, that the matter may be looked at from all sides, 
although, really, the information involved is the same 
in each case. 

Thus, supposing the children to have been taught 



54 FORMS OF QUESTIONS 

that the atmospheric pressure under ordinary condi- 
tions is about 15 lbs. per square inch, the fact may be 
fixed directly by having the statement repeated several 
times, or better, by questionings somewhat as follows: 
" What is the amount of the pressure of the atmos- 
phere on a square inch ? " "Of what did we say 15 
lbs. was a measure ? " " If I take a square inch of 
the surface of this table what is the weight of the air 
upon it ? " " "What does 15 lbs. per square inch repre- 
sent with respect to the atmosphere ? " 

With very young children this repeated askings for 
information in a changed form is often most valuable; 
the reiteration not only deepens the impression made, 
and so strengthens remembrance, but helps to secure 
that the pupils understand the fact brought forward, 
by giving them time completely to realize what it means. 

The following is a very simple instance: "What 
was the name of Abraham's son ? " " Who was Isaac's 
father ? " " What relation was Isaac to Abraham ? " 
" AVhat relation was Abraham to Isaac ? " 

In class-teaching it is not possible to make every 
question suitable for every child, as though he alone 
had to be considered ; but, in any continuous use of 
questions, they should be so varied in difficulty that, 
while the larger number of them ought certainly to 
aft'ord useful exercise for the average members of the 
class, others are calculated more particularly to meet 
the needs of the duller or of the brighter children. 

9. Connected in series. — The value of connecting 
infornuition and of associating ideas of a like kind — of 
packing them away as it were in the right place in the 
mind— has been touched upon already. To systematize 



CONNECTED 55 

knowledge in this way for the child, and link together 
individual items of information so that they have a 
combined meaning, is a matter of the most vital 
importance in teaching, and to secure its accomplish- 
ment no device may be more beneficially and success- 
fully employed than questioning. 

It is not difficult, therefore, to see hoAV much depends 
upon the proper sequence and connection of the ques- 
tions, and to recognize that, in putting them, care 
should be taken always to keep to some distinct line 
of thought. Each question should be based upon, or 
at least related to, the preceding answer; so that not 
only may the child be assisted in associating properly 
the various points brought before him, but, by having 
his attention turned in a definite direction, he may the 
more readily pass from what he has already acquired 
to that which he has yet to learn. 

The preparation, however, should be of a line of 
questioning, not of a list of questions. To settle just 
what questions are to be asked is a waste of time, and 
to adhere to sucli questions is a pretty sure way of 
rendering the lesson artificial. In ordinary cases the 
actual questions should be left to the needs of the 
moment, so that each may grow naturally out of the 
preceding answers; and, even when some difficult point 
is to be reached by questioning, the most that can be 
usefully done is to think over u. j^ossible series of ques- 
tions which follow the line it is intended to take. For 
a teacher, especially an inexperienced one, to have 
such a series in his mind as suggestions may be of great 
assistance, and will often prevent him from wandering. 
The questions themselves however are pretty sure to 



56 FORMS OF QUESTIONS 

be greatly modified, and may be quite changed, when 
the point comes to be taught. 

Fitch says (p. 71): " We have often been struck, I 
dare say, in reading the newspapers, to find what plain 
and sensible evidence the witnesses all appear to give 
at judicial trials. We recognize the name of some par- 
ticular person, and we know, perhaps, that he is an 
uneducated man, apt to talk in an incoherent and 
desultory way on most subjects, utterly incapable of 
telling a simple story without wandering and blunder- 
ing, and very nervous withal ; yet if he happens to 
have been a witness at a trial, and we read the pub- 
lished report of his testimony, we are surprised to find 
what a connected, straightforward story it is; there is 
no irrelevant or needless matter introduced, and yet 
not one significant fact is omitted. We wonder how 
such a man could have stood up in a crowded court, 
and narrated facts with all this propriety and good 
taste. But the truth is that the witness is not entitled 
to your praise. He never recited the narrative in the 
way implied by the newspaper report. But he stood 
opposite to a man who had studied the art of ques- 
tioning, and he replied in succession to a series of 
interrogations which the barrister j^roposed to him. 
The reporter for the press has done no more than copy 
down, in the exact order in which they were given, 
all the replies to these questions ; and if the sum of 
these replies reads to us like a consistent narrative, it 
is because the lawyer knew how to marshal his facts 
beforehand, had the skill to determine what was neces- 
sary, and what was not necessary, to the case in hand, 
and to propose his questions so as to draw out, even 



CON"]SrECTED 57 

from a confused and bewildered mind, a coherent 
statement of facts. We may take a hint, I think, 
from the practice of the bar in this respect; and, 
especially in questioning by way of examination, we 
may remember that the answers of the children, if 
they could be taken down at the moment, ought to 
form a complete, orderly, and clear summary of the 
entire contents of the lesson." 

Raiul)liii^ questioning prevents continuous think- 
ing on the part of the child, and often leaves him con- 
founded, not because the question is beyond his power 
or knowledge, if it had been properly led up to, but 
on account of the broken and zigzag course pursued by 
the teacher. 

Some teachers have a most unfortunate method of 
trying to avoid a pause, if the next point does not 
occur to them, or they are at a loss for a word. This 
is to ask a question abruptly about something dealt, 
with earlier in the lesson ; so that, while the children 
are expecting to go forward, they are suddenly called 
upon to turn their attention to some matter completely 
dissociated from that under consideration. 

Examination questions are naturally more* dis- 
cursive than those used during the teaching; but even 
here there should be a definite order in which the 
points are again brought under the notice of the child, 
and the questions must be kept within the area covered 
by the previous teaching. 

The steps from one question to another must 
be such as the children can take ; and it is necessary 
for the teacher to be on the watch at all points that he 



58 FORMS OF QUESTIONS 

may make sure he is being intelligently followed. 
Unless he is cautious in this respect the connection 
between the ideas is likely to exist only in his own 
mind; and while the questions may appear to him to 
be consecutive and fitly framed to develop the lesson, 
the pupils, unable to take such long leaps, may be in 
a state of perplexity, so far as any relationship between 
the various facts is concerned. In such circumstances 
the teacher is very liable to credit to the stupidity of 
the children, rather than to the imperfection of his 
own questioning, their failure to grasp what is being 
taught. 

10. Conversational. — The success with which 
questioning is conducted so as to be made attractive 
to children depends very much upon the way in which 
the questions are asked. Few influences are more 
stimulative to children than a cheerful, appreciative, 
and sympathetic manner on the part of the teacher; 
and this is especially the case in questioning. The 
exercise should be, as far as possible, like a pleasant 
animated conversation, and entirely free from the stiff 
formalism which sometimes characterizes it. Vivacity 
and 'pleasantness put the pupils on good terms with 
their work, arouse in them a desire to do their best, 
and prevent their flagging or becoming wearied of 
answering so soon as they otherwise would. 

Many good examples of the " conversational method" 
may be found in books, especially in some of the best 
story-books for children ; but we must be on our guard 
against that sham conversational 'plan to be found in the 
ord'inary " question-and-answer books ". In these 
there is no true dialogue ; all the brightness, freedom, 



CONVERSATIONAL 59 

and naturalness of conversation are absent; and the 
information is presented in an entirely artificial and 
often pompous way, which is as unlike the skilful 
guidance of the child to think and discover for himself 
as anything can well be. To call the method in such 
a case " Socratic ", as some writers of these books do, is 
an absurdity which is only equalled by the ignorance 
displayed in such a statement. 

The well-known chapter on " Eyes and no Eyes " in 
" Evenings at Home " is a capital instance of the spirit 
and way iu which teaching by conversation should be 
carried out; and in the admirable dialogue quoted on 
p. 24 from the Eev. Edward Thriug's "Theory and 
Practice of Teaching" the method is seen at its best. 

Any means which will give zest and animation to the 
questioning, and banish drowsiness and indisposition 
to effort, is worth consideration; but at the same time 
the teacher must not put on a melodramatic air and 
act his part. The more perfectly easy and natural he 
is the better. Some teachers make the mistake of 
being fussy and bustling, which is tiresome and dis- 
concerting; others of being stilted and magisterial, 
which is chilling and depressing; a few of being too 
exacting, and correcting mistakes in a harsh, snappish 
way, which renders the children afraid to answer, and 
eventually silences them. 

Questions should he spirited without hesitation, 
but at the same time without hurry. If clearly given, 
they should not be repeated again and again, as is 
often done, in the teacher's anxiety to obtain answers 
quickly. This repetition of the question, frequently 
with the added behest to think, defeats its own pur- 



60 FORMS OF QUESTIONS 

pose, and so far from assisting the child, simply 
embarrasses him. 

To put the questions in a slow, dull, or drawling 
way, as though the teacher himself found the work 
tedious, and, it may be, with long pauses while he 
■considers what he shall ask next, naturally damps out 
interest in answering, and rapidly leads to weariness 
.and inattention. 

The tone of voice should be bright and encourag- 
ing, and the words should be given with sufficient 
deliberation and force for every child to hear with 
ease. When very considerable effort is necessary to 
catch the words of the question, this is so much energy 
withdrawn from the answering. 

11. Well distributed over both the lesson and the 
-class. — The employment of questioning is no exception 
to the rule that a method should not be used so exclu- 
sively and persistently as to weary the children by the 
monotony of the exercise; but, this being kept in 
mind, questions may with advantage be introduced at 
any point, and into any subject where they can be 
made to accomplish effectively and quickly what is 
required. Questioning should be so woven into the 
teaching that, while continually employed as an 
auxiliary to other devices, its more deliberate and spe- 
cific use as a distinct method should be judiciously dis- 
tributed over the lesson. 

It is sometimes said that nothing should be told to 
a cliild which it is possible for him, with the aid of 
questioning, to discover. This is an over-statement of 
the case which is calculated to do more harm than 



WELL DISTRIBUTED 61 

good, and to destroy that faith in the value of the 
device properly employed which every teacher should 
have. Where the discovery cannot be made without 
unreasonable difficulty, or an extravagant expenditure 
of time, questioning should be abandoned for some 
method less exacting and more direct. The point for 
consideration is not whether the information can be 
arrived at by the greatest exercise of ingenuity, and 
after a large number of attempts, but whether ques- 
tioning is the best means, all things considered, for 
fixing the facts with certainty and intelligence in the 
minds of the children. 

The best general way of asking a question is to 
address the whole class, on the understanding that all 
who can answer are to hold up one hand, and then to 
select one or more pupils to give the reply. Much 
good judgment may be shown in the way this selection 
is made. If the question is an easy one, it may well 
be answered by the less able members of the class; but 
if it is fairly difficult it is, <(x a rule, better to allow 
some child to answer who may reasonably be expected 
to do so correctly. Those, however, who show any sign 
of inattention should be frequently challenged, and in 
some cases called upon to repeat the question. The 
main thing is to keep the thing lesson " going '', and 
to secure that every child shall be on the alert. For 
this reason the question should always be asked before 
the pupil to answer is called upon. Each one should 
feel that he is liable to be called upon at any moment, 
and that directly he begins to gaze about, or in any 
way to show that he is not properly attending to what 
is being said, he is almost certain to be chosen by the 



(i2 FORMS OF QUESTIONS 

teacher to give an answer. The stolid look and the 
dnll eye soon betray to the watchful teacher when the 
child is not learning. 

The greater ease and quickness with which answers 
may be obtained from the brighter children is a great 
temptation to the teacher to overlook the duller and 
more ignorant ones during questioning. He should 
bear this carefully in mind, in order that the latter may 
receive their full share of attention; but, in his anxiety 
to do the best that is possible for such children, he 
must not fall into the opposite error of directing to them 
a greater proportion of the questions than is their due, 
and so of neglecting the needs of those who are able to 
move more rapidly. Occasionally, and in special cir- 
cumstances, it is a good plan for the sake of variety to 
go round the class with a series of questions, calling 
upon each boy in turn to answer one; this plan, how- 
ever, should not be generally adopted. 

If properly treated children are easily interested, and 
soon become inquisitive about any subject which is 
made attractive to them. When quite at their ease, 
and in sympathy with the teacher, it is therefore per- 
fectly natural for them to ask questions; so much so 
that a child has been called " an animated interroga- 
tion point ". Tliis questioning of the teacher by the 
children, if kept within proper limits, is a thing to be 
distinctly encouraged, especially with little ones; and 
if managed at all skilfully will not only banish all idea 
of lesson drudgery from the minds of the children, but 
also afford the teacher just the opportunities he wants 
for putting his own questions in return. In fact, in 
many cases, by a series of well-directed questions the 



WELL DISTRIBUTED 6;} 

child muy be made, greatly to his satisfaction, to find 
the answer to his own qnestion. Any honest seeking 
for further information, or statement of a real diffi- 
culty, should be listened to patiently, and answered in 
the most fitting way which the teacher's knowledge 
and circumstances allow. A little management on his 
part will soon ensure that the questions asked are kept 
within the limits of the subject in hand, and are not 
put merely for the sake of asking. Any inquiry which 
is useful in itself but which has no direct bearing on 
the lesson may, if more than a word or two are re- 
quired, be easily answered at some more suitable 
opportunity. 

Sometimes it is useful, as a relief from routine work, 
to allow children to question one another. One boy 
stands up and the others ask him any questions they 
please on the lesson, or the subject selected, the teacher 
indicating the order in which this is to be done. If 
the one questioned fails to reply correctly, the ques- 
tioner, after giving the right answer, takes his place, 
until he in turn is deposed, and so on. Children in 
such circumstances often display great acuteness and 
ingenuity in framing questions, and the exercise affords 
a useful training in smartness and readiness of reply ; 
while at the same time it encourages confidence and 
independence of view. It almost always excites the 
keenest interest, and the children are generally re- 
freshed by it; the questioning, however, is naturally 
of too desultory a character to be employed otherwise 
than as a relaxation. 



CHAPTEE IV 

QUALITIES AND TEEATMENT OF ANSWEKS 

If the child is to gain all the benefit which should 
result from his being questioned correctly it is quite as 
important for the teacher to attend to the answers 
given as to the mode of questioning. This is not 
always recognized, at least in practice, the teacher 
apparently feeling that if the question has been prop- 
erly put the faultiness of the replies is entirely due to 
the children. The nature, however, of the answering 
will be pretty much what the teacher makes it; and 
not only will it often be impossible for him to frame 
his questions in the most suitable way unless the 
answers are properly considered, but neglect on his 
part in this matter will tell most prejudicially upon 
the intellectual habits and training of the children. If 
on the other hand they see that no carelessness is ever 
passed over, and that the teacher will not rest content 
with anything less than the best they can give, j;hey 
naturally soon learn to answer, at least passably, in 
the way required. Questioning and answering act and 
react upon one another, and neither is likely to be what 
it should be when the teacher is content with a low 
standard in the other. 

1. Good answers. — The chief things to be aimed 
at in good answering are, readiness in finding the right 

(64) 



GOOD ANSWERS 65- 

ideas, and aptness in putting them into the form 
of words that will best make them clear to others. In 
many cases it is evident that the child knows what is 
asked of him, but is unable, from the limited nature 
of his vocabulary and his defective experience in the 
use of words, to state exactly what he means. To 
answer a question well in all respects is often far from 
an easy matter ; and it is not to be expected, even with 
the most careful handling, that all the answers of chil- 
dren can be made to come up to a theoretically satis- 
factory standard. Much, nevertheless, may be done 
in this respect if the teacher is alive to what should be 
required, and gives in a kindly and judicious manner 
such help as is needed. 

The way in which the teacher deals with the answers 
given will, if he adopts the right course, soon make 
evident to the children what they should aim at, and 
will encourage them to take pains in stating properly 
what they know. 

Good answers should be : 

(a) Exact as far as they go — showing that the pupil 
recognizes the point of the question, and endeavors 
to give clearly and precisely what he believes to be 
wanted. Truth and error are often strangely mixed in 
the answers of children, but if there is no doubt as to 
which is which, such replies are easily dealt with. 
The greater difficulty, however, is the haziness of con- 
ception, and consequent vagueness of answering, which 
results from half-formed ideas and leaves it uncertain 
to what extent the child is right or wrong in what he 
says. This indefiniteness the teacher should do his 
best to banish. 



66 TREATMENT OF ANSWERS 

(b) Complete. — The answer should he expressed 
with sufficient fulness to be intelligible to the class, 
and should give all that the question asks, but nothing 
else. Unless the teacher is heedful in this matter, the 
child, either from indolence or carelessness, will in 
many cases merely hint at the reply instead of stating 
it, flinging in a word or two and leaving the rest to be 
imagined. It may be evident that his knowledge is 
not at fault ; that is not enough ; he must be made to 
state what he has to say with as much completeness as 
he is capable of. 

Partial answers, if correct as far as they go and 
properly expressed, must frequently be accepted ; and 
in such cases the missing information should be sup- 
plied by other pupils until the complete statement is 
arrived at. But, generally speaking, when this has 
been done, the pupil first called upon should be made 
to give the full reply. 

It is sometimes urged that all answers should be sen- 
tences, single words or short phrases not being allowed. 
In answering questions in vjviting this no doubt should 
be adhered to, but whether it is wise to insist upon it 
in teaching will depend almost entirely upon the nature 
of the questions. There are, of course, many cases — 
more particularly with elder children, and where 
thought is appealed to rather than memory — in which 
nothing short of a complete reply should be accepted ; 
but to compel children always to give answers so 
expressed as to be intelligible without the question, 
especially where the object is merely to test the re- 
membrance of certain facts, would destroy the spirit 
of the exercise and render it slow, formal, and tedious. 



GOOD ANSWERS 67 

'Good as the discipline referred to may be in the ab- 
stract, practical needs here often outweigh theoretical 
considerations, and no hard and fast rule should be 
adhered to in the matter. After all it is really a ques- 
tion of good Judgment on the part of the teacher. 

Whenever prepositions precede whom, which, or ivhat 
in the question, they should however be always 
expressed in the answer; as, " By what right did John 
succeed to the throne ? " "By the will of his brother 
Eichard." (Young, p. 24.) 

(c) Exact. — When answering is properly managed 
it is not only a training in exactness of thought, but 
also affords valuable exercise in the use of language; 
and further, gives children confidence and ease in put- 
ting their thoughts before others. What is required 
should be stated directly, in grammatically correct 
form, and in such a way that the substance of the reply 
may be readily grasped by all the members of the class. 
Clearness of meaning and neatness of expression are 
features in answering which it is worth while to take 
a great deal of trouble to secure; and this not so much 
from the increased excellence of the answer — though 
that is an important thing in itself — as from the 
thought and Judgment which the qualities just men- 
tioned involve before the reply can be fully given. 

Of course, when testing questions are used more 
especially for the purpose of recapitulation, the answers 
should be known, and, as they usually demand onl^ 
few words, rapidity of reply in most cases may be 
reasonably expected; but, in answering more difficult 
questions, if the child is to be thoughtful, and consider 
how best he may put into words what he has to say, 



()8 TREATMENT OF ANSWERS 

he must not be hurried or distracted by his surround- 
ings. Hurry lies at the root of many defects in learn- 
ing ; and to it the blunders and badly expressed replies 
of children are due in a far larger measure than is 
commonly realized. It is one of the defects of class 
questioning that the competitive element — useful as it 
is in other ways — tends to encourage hasty answering. 
The pupil, naturally eager not to be behind his neigh- 
bors, does not give himself time to be certain and exact; 
and consequently his answers, even within his knowl- 
edge and power, are very apt to be rambling and 
clumsy, if not unintelligible. 

For the teacher to pause long enough before accept- 
ing a reply to give time for thought is useful; but this 
only partially meets the case, for the child, constrained 
by seeing other hands go up, puts out his own the 
moment anything like an answer occurs to him; and 
no matter how much time is given after this, his 
attention is fixed upon the teacher, and he does not 
reconsider or try to amend his first rough draft of a 
reply. Something may also be effected in the way of 
cure by commending deserving answers from the more 
steady and cautious children, and by refusing to accept 
ill-considered and badly-worded replies. These the 
answerers may well be compelled to re-express, when- 
ever it can be done without unduly delaying the 
teaching. 

Simplicity of wording is a thing to be distinctly 
encouraged. Sometimes from love of display, a pupil 
will use big words or pretentious phrases, which, in all 
likelihood, he very imperfectly understands. Such 
attempts should meet with no favor from the teacher; 



GOOD ANSWERS 00 

and occasionally it may be well to point out how much 
better the answer would have been if gi-ven in a sim- 
pler form. 

Children have to take in information through the 
teacher's words; they should be encouraged to give it 
back again in their own. The re-expression of infor- 
mation in their own terms is the best test of under- 
standing, and often throws light upon the way in 
which they most naturally regard things. Except 
where the word-form is important — as in a quotation, 
definition, or the statement of a scientific law — the 
child should feel, from the way in which the teacher 
accepts the answers, that originality of wording is 
looked upon by him as an additional excellence to cor- 
rectness of idea. 

( d ) Prompt. — The rapidity with which answers 
should be accepted, as we have just seen, will depend 
upon the nature of the questions. So long as the 
replies are satisfactory, the more promptly they are 
given the better. Smartness and interest generally go 
together and stimulate the child to further efiiort. 
The welfare of the class as a whole, however, must not 
be sacrificed to the quickness of a few. Reasonable 
time must be given for the children to collect their 
ideas and put them in order; but this being granted, 
there must be no sluggishness or loitering in giving 
the answer, no bungling hesitation and hazarding of 
guesses, and no looking to one another for some sug- 
gestion to put them on the right track. 

In answering upon what has been previously given 
in the lesson the readiness with which the learners 



70 TREATMENT OF ANSWERS 

answer is generally an indication as to how far the 
teaching has been grasped with success. 

Snch rules as that the children should rise when giv- 
ing an answer may often be suspended for the sake of 
greater rapidity of replies. 

(e) Distinctly g'iveii — in the natural tone of voice 
and with sufficient deliberation and clearness to be 
heard without elfort by all concerned. The teacher 
should not allow the children to give their replies in 
such an indistinct and mumbling way that only a word 
here and there can be caught. On the other hand they 
should be taught that to be heard requires distinctness 
of articulation — not shouting. 

2. Bad answers. — In addition to the several faulty 
modes of answering already incidentally referred to, 
there are others of even more pronounced character to- 
which the teacher's attention should be directed. 

(a) (inessing is one of the commonest as well as one 
of the most harmful types of bad answering. The 
child often makes no effort to think or discover the 
correct reply, but heedlessly hazards an answer, or it 
may be several one after another, on the mere chance 
of being right. The evil of allowing children to fall 
into the way of thus gambling with words is serious ; 
and the practice should be discouraged at all points 
in any reasonable way that may offer itself. No under- 
standing accompanies the guess even when correct ; and 
frequently the replies given are so senseless as to show 
that the child is not even conscious of the import of" 
what he is saying. This is " disrespectful to the 
teacher and a nuisance to the class." 



BAD ANSWERS 71 

In some instances the defect of the answer may be 
shown by a further question; in others the absurdity 
of the reply shouhl be distinctly exposed, while any 
gross case should be met by a direct reprimand. A 
little wholesome ridioule also, if wisely applied, will 
prove frequently of considerable service. 

The teacher who shuts his eyes to guessing is really 
helping to foster habits of carelessness and rash state- 
ment altogether opposed to true educational influences. 
Not only does the child in such circumstances lose the 
good which the questioning should secure to him, but 
the bad effects of the practice are manifested in many 
ways, and extend beyond the period of school life. 

(b) Reckless answering' is closely allied to guess- 
ing. The child simply Jumps at a conclusion, or blurts 
out probably the first idea that enters his head, with- 
out taking the trouble to settle how far the answer is 
correct. Oftentimes if the teacher pauses and puts 
the question again, in a way which shows that it must 
not be trifled with, the answer is able quite readily to 
correct his own statement. Such answers are not mis- 
takes, but stupid blameworthy blunders, and they 
should not be allowed to go by without reproof. 
"Real mistakes," says Mr. Thring, "are one thing. 
Sham mistakes are another. And the learners ought 
to have the distinction sharply and strongly cut across 
their minds. A boy ought to be made to see always 
that what he ca7i do he shall do... It is not the knowl- 
edge of the miserable tense or case, that is the ques- 
tion, but the slackness of mind that is so deadly, the 
trained activity that is at stake." The teacher must 
look to himself as well as to the children, for vague 



72 TREATMEISTT OF ANSWERS 

questioning is sometimes at the bottom of the fault; 
and in any case he has himself to blame if such answers 
are at all common in his class, at least for any length 
of time. See page 38. 

(c) Careless answeriug is another frequent form, 
where, in what Mr. Thring calls the " no answer 
plague ", the reply given is not what is asked for, but 
some other piece of information generally allied to it. 

Thus it is asked, " What is the height of Snowdon ? " 
and the reply is "It is the highest mountain in Eng- 
land and Wales ; " or, " When was the battle of Ban- 
nockburn fought?" and the forthcoming answer is 
"It was fought between the English and Scotch." 
" Who was the Duke of Wellington ?" " He fought 
the battle of Waterloo." 

In the great majority of instances, where answers of 
this kind are given, they are due to culpable careless- 
ness, which takes one of the following forms — imper- 
fect listening to the question so that only part of it is 
heard, inattention to what the question really asks, and 
heedlessness or indolence in framing the answer. 

In other cases the child, not knowing the informa- 
tion wanted, is eager to show that he knows something 
else, and volunteers this instead. It is scarcely neces- 
sary to say that replies of this kind should be strongly 
discouraged. Such lapses, however, are by no means 
confined to children, or to answering in class; examin- 
ation papers would often supply abundant and some- 
times glaring examples. 

The variety of ways in which what is given may be 
wide of the question is almost endless. It is not pos- 



BAD ANSWERS 73 

sible here to do more than refer to one or two further 
instances. 

It often happens, for example, that children will go 
all round a question without touching the real point 
at issue ; or give replies which, while dealing with the 
subject-matter required, present it in a form that is no 
direct reply to what is asked. In the latter case the 
wrong part of speech, as nouns for verbs and vice versa, 
or the wrong phrase, is substituted for the one really 
needed to meet the question exactly. The following 
examples will make this clear: 

"What is meant by alms'?" "To give money to 
the poor. " — " What is a sentence ? " " Putting words 
together to make sense." — "What is meant by ex- 
ports? " "To send goods out of the country." 

The looseness of attention, inexactness of thought, 
and lack of effort involved in such intellectual saunter- 
ing are serious drawbacks to any real training being 
given. Children need bracing up in such circum- 
stances, and the correction of the error should be 
unmistakable. In particular cases it may be advisable 
to point out in what respect the answers are wrong, and 
to explain clearly what is needed by way of correct 
reply. Anyway the child must be led to understand 
clearly that he must keep exactly to the point, and 
that nothing short of a direct answer to the question 
will be accej)ted. 

(d) Yoluuteeretl iiiformatiou. — Sometimes a pupil 
is very anxious to display what he knows in tiie hojie 
of pleasing the teacher by the amount of his informa- 
tion, and, not content with giving what is asked for, 
goes on to state other matters beyond what the ques- 



74 TREATMENT OF ANSWERS 

tion requires. He should be stopped at once when he 
begins to do this; but not snubbed into silence, as is 
sometimes done. A judicious teacher will have no 
difficulty in dealing with such a case. One way is to 
call upon the child to repeat the question, so as to 
direct his attention to just what is needed, and then 
make him give this without any addition. He will 
soon learn that volunteered information is not what 
the teacher wants. Where the fault remains unchecked 
it will grow, and a good deal of time may be wasted, 
apart from other considerations. 

(e) vSpeculative answers. — Some children again are 
very fond of giving speculative answers. They are 
aware that the teacher is working up some point, and, 
eager to show that they know what he is aiming at, 
they endeavor to anticipate him by giving the final con- 
clusion instead of, or in addition to, the fact required 
at the moment. Such answers are often very trouble- 
some, and sometimes spoil an important step in the 
teaching by bringing it forward prematurely. They 
are very apt to disconcert a young teacher; and it is 
not always easy for one more experienced to deal with 
them satisfactorily. The particular treatment will 
depend much upon the attendant circumstances of the 
case. The child, however, should be made to see dis- 
tinctly that to gain the teacher's approbation he must 
confine himself to the question, and be taught to keep 
his discoveries to himself until the proper time comes, 
when they will receive that recognition which is denied 
to them so long as they are given out of place. 

(f) Ridiculous answers are sometimes purposely 
indulged in. They are of course bad as answers; but 



DEALING WITH ANSWERS 75 

the lesson may be dry and uninteresting, and the chil- 
dren 'glad of any relief. It is not necessary to treat an 
occasional attempt at a joke as a breach of discipline ; 
in fact it would be very unwise to do so, and, if at all 
quick-witted, the teacher may easily keep in order any 
offender, inclined to overstep reasonable bounds, by 
turning the laugh upon him. The main thing is to 
keep the matter entirely under control, and to prevent 
its delaying the teaching: it will then do no harm. 

Where however foolish answers are given with the 
deliberate intention of disconcerting the teacher, or 
turning the lesson into a farce, they should at- once be 
taken seriously in hand. The best way is to look upon 
them as gross rudeness and treat them accordingly. 

3. Dealing witli answers has an important bear- 
ing on the success of the teaching. Xo child should 
be allowed to escape contributing something to the 
lesson, and this to the best of his ability. The exer- 
cise should be so conducted, that while errors in fact 
or faulty- worded replies are not allowed to escape cor- 
rection, the spirit is such that every one is stimulated 
to let no opportunity pass without trying to give what 
is wanted. Effort is the great thing needed, and this 
is not to be secured without encouragement. Harsh- 
ness, impatience, and want of sympathy in dealing with 
answers, soon discourage children to such an extent 
that they remain silent, even when they know, either 
from fear of drawing down the teacher's scorn upon 
them, should they make a mistake, or becaiTsc they 
feel that their best attempts meet with no recognition 
from him. 



76 TREATMENT OF ANSWERS 

(a) ConiJiieiirtatioii. — Answers which are specially- 
good and show that the point asked has been carefully 
thought out should be commended. In some cases a 
word of encouragement should be given, even when 
the answer is not all that could be wished, if it appears 
that the child has intelligently grappled with the ques- 
tion, and done his utmost to give a satisfactory reply. 
Where the answers, though correct, are not marked by 
any special excellence, and no word of commendation 
is advisable, they should be accepted in a pleasaiit, 
appreciative way, which will be in itself an encourage- 
ment to the child. A word of caution too is necessary. 
It is easy for the teacher to fall into the habit of con- 
stantly following an answer by some stereotyped phrase 
of approval, as "quite right", "exactly", "very 
good", "just so", "good boy", etc. This is to be 
avoided. 

Sometimes the teacher appears to disagree with a 
correct answer, for the sake of teaching the pupil to 
be self-dejoendeut. "How much is 12 times 13?" 
asked a superintendent. The boy replied "156". 
" Know! " thundered the superintendent, and the boys 
said " 155 ". " Know!" said the superintendent again 
and again, and the boy kept guessing. Finally a little 
girl raised her hand timidly. "But isn't it 156?" 
she asked. " Certainly," said the superintendent. 
"But you said 'No'." "On the contrary I said 
k-n-o-w. I want you to know the answer is right." 

(b) Correctioii. — Answers which are wholly wrong 
should be decidedly and clearly rejected. This should 
never be done snappishly or sarcastically, so as to 
destroy the spontaneity of the answering; but such 



DEALING WITH ANSWERS 77 

mistakes should not be passed over in a way that will 
leave the child in doubt as to their true nature. 
Honest mistakes are better than silent uncertainty. 

It is not necessary that the rejection should always 
be given the moment the answer is received. Cases 
frequently arise where the child may be led by a 
further question to find out his error for himself; or 
the correction may be given by others. In the end, 
however, it should be clear to him where he was wrong. 
It is often a good plan, when a correct answer has at 
length been obtained with the aid of other members of 
the class, to call upon one or other of those who 
answered wrongly to give the right reply over again; 
or perhaps to put it in their own words. 

(c) Anieudmeut. — Many answers are a mixture of 
truth and error, and it would be a waste of time to 
pause in all instances and extract the grain from the 
accompanying chaff; but sometimes this may be done 
with distinct advantage both to the individual and the 
class. 

Much depends upon the extent to which the answer 
is correct. In some instances it is sufiicient for the 
teacher to point out what is right and leave the rest ; 
in others the answer may be passed over altogether. 
Cases often occur, however, where a bad answer shows 
that the child has the right idea in his mind but has 
blundered in putting it; and here he may usefully be 
made to amend or complete his reply, others being 
called in to assist where he is at a loss. 

Faulty answers may be frequently turned to good 
account by a skilful teacher; and a good deal may 
sometimes be learned by getting to the bottom of a 



78 TREATMENT OF ANSWERS 

cliild's difficulty. But, on the other hand, if this is 
improperly managed, the children are very apt to lose 
the thread of the lesson, and to have their attention 
entirely misdirected by too much talk, and that possibly 
wide of the subject in hand. Discretion and judgment 
are necessary in this matter at every point, and the 
teacher must walk warily if he would avoid the many 
pitfalls which beset his path. 

(d) Repression. — A bold, forward or conceited 
manner in answering should be reproved or repressed 
by coldly passing over the individual who exhibits it. 
Children should not be encouraged merely to outdo 
their neighbors ; and a pupil who turns round with a 
glow of triumph to some one who failed to answer 
should have his power taxed to the limit of failure. 

Anxiety to answer is in itself deserving of recogni- 
tion, but it must not be allowed to indiscriminate call- 
ing out of replies. If this is permitted the class soon 
falls into disorder, and with bad discipline good answer- 
ing is impossible. A boy who jumps up or comes out 
of his place in order to press his answer upon the 
teacher should, for that very reason, not be allowed 
to give the reply. 

Especially should the teacher detect and expose the 
disposition to pretend to be able to answer on the 
chance of not being asked. Such pupils should be re- 
quired to answer whenever they offer to do so, and 
kept upon their feet until their total disability over- 
whelms them with embarrassment. 

(e) Self-criticism. — If the answers again and again 
are not forthcoming, or show a general lack of under- 



SIMULTANEOUS ANSWERING 79 

standing, the teacher shonld at once exert himself to 
find out the cause, and loolc carefully to his own side 
of the work. The probability is that the fault is to 
be traced to his own want of clearness, defective 
explanation, or imperfect illustration in presenting the 
facts; or the weakness may arise from the mode of 
questioning. In either case the matter should be set 
right, either by going over again with greater care that 
part of the teaching, or by amending the style of ques- 
tioning. The examples of corrected questions given 
by Young (pp. 55-65) will prove of much service. 
A device suggested by Young (p. 18) is to reverse the 
order, the pupils asking the questions and the teacher 
answering them; and this may often be used with 
profit, if the teacher is sure of maintaining his dignity. 
In like manner Fitch suggests (p. 78) that it will often 
be well to let the pupils question one another, especially 
in the upper classes. Pupils often gain clear ideas and 
better perspective of the subject by being asked to 
frame questions for review work. See pages 62, 63. 

Sometimes, however, the cause of such a failure lies 
with the children themselves — arising from inertness, 
inattention, or weariness; or again it may be due to 
bad physical conditions, such as unwholesome atmos- 
phere, excess of heat or cold, or too long a continuance 
in one position. 

4. Simiiltaiieoiis answering is an attractive mode 
of receiving replies, and in certain circumstances may 
be used with advantage ; but both insight and caution 
are necessary to employ it properly, and it may easily 
become not only a useless but a harmful exercise. 



80 TKEATMENT OF ANSWERS 

Its advantages are that it engages every one at the 
same time, is stimulating to a dull class, is a rapid 
method, is impressive in force, gives confidence to the 
shy and timid, imparts animation to the work, and is 
a relief and refreshment after severer exercises. 

Its chief defects may be said to be that it makes a 
show of work, and is apt to delude both the teacher 
and taught as to the amount learned; it smothers indi- 
vidual effort and fosters a bad habit of relying upon 
others ; it is noisy, and if badly managed may interfere 
with the work of neighboring classes, or develop a 
sing-song tone that is very objectionable; while, inas- 
much as the answers need to be simple and obvious, so 
that every child may have a chance and use the same 
words, it affords little or no training of any kind, and 
leads to superficiality and the glib quoting of phrases 
without any real understanding. " It may seem a 
paradoxical assertion," says Fitch (p. 59), " but it is 
nevertheless true that a group of children may appear 
intelligent, while the separate members of the group 
are careless, ignorant, or only half interested." 

As a means of rapid repetition or recapitulation to 
fix certain truths in the minds of the pupils, simultane- 
ous answering is distinctly useful, if properly employed ; 
but as a means of testing information, or of teaching 
new truths, it is comparatively worthless. In the case 
of little children, where pleasantness and continuous 
occupation of an easy kind are the things needed rather 
than steady thought, and Avhere a training in smart- 
ness and attention is more important than the learning 
of facts, simultaneous answering should be frequently 
made use of ; with older children it should be employed 



COMMON MISTAKES 81 

much more rarely. Where the exercise is used as a 
means of relief or change it should be dropped as soon 
as the end aimed at has been reached. 

Yigilaiice and careful listening on the part of the 
teacher are especially demanded here ; lacking these he 
may be completely deceived. Children are exceed- 
ingly quick in picking up answers from a few leaders, 
and will often chime in mechanically without even 
listening to the question. This is a mischievous habit 
and needs frequent correction, but it is by no means 
impossible for the teacher to overcome it ; rather the 
fault is to be laid to his charge if it is at all common. 

Children should be in no doubt when a simultaneous 
answer is required, some direction, or understood sig- 
nal — as a wave of the hand— being employed by the 
teacher to give the required intimation. The noise 
also of the exercise should be kept down as much as 
possible. The children should speak, not whisper, and 
speak loud enough to be heard distinctly; but they 
should never be allowed to bawl out the answers in a 
high-pitched artificial tone, as is very often the case. 

5. Common mistakes may be noted where caution 
is necessary to prevent the teacher from falling into 
error. 

(a) Particular form of answer expected. — It 

not unfrequently happens that in asking a question the 
teacher has in his mind some particular form of answer. 
Unless he attends carefully to the substance of the 
replies, rather than the words, he may easily make the 
mistake of refusing good answers because they differ 
in statement from what he is expecting. So long as 



82 TREATMENT OF ANSWERS 

the answer is direct, and is expressed with reasonable 
correctness, it is far better to accept the child's own 
words, than to insist upon some more perfect form 
which the teacher himself may be able to give. We 
want children to think; and if they do this naturally 
they are in many cases pretty certain to see things in 
a somewhat different light from that in which the 
teacher regards them. Sometimes the answers given 
are much more rational and accute than the one the 
teacher is trying to obtain. 

A teacher once asked — " Why do the little birds 
build their nests ? " and after refusing several really 
intelligent replies, expressed surprise that no one could 
give the one he wanted, which was — " Because it is 
their instinct so to do. " This was a blunder in several 
ways. Compare the instance on page 49. 

{b) Answering nnevenly distributed. — Unless 
the teacher is observant he is liable to select the same 
children to answer again and again — usually either 
those just in front of him, or th-ose who are most for- 
ward and demonstrative. In either case a considerable 
number of children have no attention paid to them 
and remain in comparative idleness. Over-answering 
by a few means mental torpor on the part of the many. 
When a child finds that he is rarely or never noticed 
by the teacher he naturally grows careless, and inat- 
tention soon follows. Xor does the mischief end here; 
for in such a case those timid and retiring children, 
who need to be continually encouraged and brought to 
the front, are entirely neglected. See pages 60-63. 

(c) Impatience on the part of the teacher often 



COMMON MISTAKES 83 

leads him to repeat the question again and again while 
the children should be thinking. They are distracted 
rather than aided by such repetition; and in many 
instances the teacher cuts the matter short by answer- 
ing the question himself and passing on. This scram- 
bling through a lesson is not teaching; and it may be 
laid down as a safe general rule, that except in rare 
cases the teacher should not answer his own questions. 
Sometimes, again, when an answer is not at once forth- 
coming, the teacher gives the beginning of what is 
wanted; and the children's minds being now turned 
from finding the reply for themselves, they either guess 
wildly or remain silent, so that word after word is 
added by the teacher until the answer is completed, or 
so nearly that all gain arising from the question is 
entirely lost. 

(d) Prompting. — The teacher should not only avoid 
prompting the children himself, but should be partic- 
ularly careful that where a question is specially directed 
to individuals the children do not prompt one another. 
When this is done in an underhand way it should be 
treated as dishonesty; but even where this is not the 
case it is a harmful practice. Children are to be 
trained to self-reliance, and this will certainly not re- 
sult unless they are made to depend upon themselves. 
Unless a child has made the best effort he is capable 
of, or the teacher has passed him over, the others 
should remain silent, but ready to give what he has 
failed in. 

(e) Repeatiiifij Answers. — Some teachers readily 
contract a habit of repeating mechanically almost every 



84 TREATMENT OF ANSWERS 

answer given. This should not be done. The fault 
may perhaps arise from the attempt to gain time while 
the next question is thought of ; but where the teacher 
feels it difficult to frame questions quickly it is better 
to pause than to fall into this useless and clumsy prac- 
tice. If it is due to the belief that unless the facts are 
impressed they will rapidly fade from the children's 
minds, this is the wrong method to adopt — except in 
very special instances — to secure the object aimed at. 
Any really necessary repetition should be given by the 
pupils themselves. 

(/) Wasting time over answers is another frequent 
error. This tends not only to destroy the interest of 
the teaching but to break the connection of one point 
with another. It is quite possible to l)e over-particular 
in receiving replies. To stickle too much over small 
points in the vain endeavor to make all answers per- 
fect, and to discuss every possible difficulty and defect, 
while the more important matters of the lesson are at 
a standstill, is to confuse children by the multiplicity 
of the corrections, and to mistake the real nature of 
what class-teaching should be. 



INDEX 



Page 
abandoning better than patching. 43 

accurate knowledge 13,35 

acquired truths fixed 35 

activity 31 

and order 15 

• of child's powers 20 

of questioning 13 

adaptation to children 54 

addressing the whole class Gl 

advantages of ellipses 30 

of questioning 80 

aim essential 53 

aimless questions 39 

all should contribute 75 

alternative questions 44, 46 

ambiguous questions 37 

amendment of answers 77 

amount of information tested. . . . 17 

an instrument of discipline 9 

analysis based on illustration .33 

easy steps in 81 

analytical power 13, 14 

" animated interrogation point ". .63 

animation 31, 59, 80 

answering in turn 62 

unevenly distributed 83 

answers important 64 

of legal witnesses 56 

test of questions 64 

test of teaching 69 

anticijjatory answers 74 

anxiety to answer 78 

appreciation 76 

appreciative manner 58 

aptness of expression 65 

articulation 70, 81 



Page 

artificial methods 59 

questioning 55 

assaying questions 16 

associating ideas 54 

association in questions 17 

attention 32, 80 

directed 45 

focused 36 

turned backwards 35 

turned forwards 35 

Bacon, q. 10 10 

bad answers 70-75 

based on what children know 33 

upon preceding answer 55 

before an explanation 19 

best test of understanding 69 

bewildering the child 47 

big woi-ds 68 

bold pupils 38, 78 

breaking up questions 40, 47, 49 

brevity of questions 40 

brighter children .54. 63 

pupils encouraged 51 

brightness 58, 60 

of manner 15 

briskness .31 

careless pupils exposed 13 

carelessness 43, 66, 71, 72, 80, 83 

not passed over 64 

catechetical questions 16 

catechisms 9 

certain form of expression 49 

change 31 

of form 34, 41 



(85) 



86 



THE AKT OF QUESTIONING 



Page 

cautions in use of ellipses 32-34 

cheerful manner .• 58 

cheerfulness 31 

chief defects of simultaneous an- 
swering 80 

child's own words 83 

children confused 41 

listen imperfectly 13 

question one another 03 

question teacher 79 

remember little 19 

to think 8^ 

choice of words 40 

clear ideas 49 

clearness 79 

of meaning 67 

commendation 76 

common mistalves 81-84 

competition 78 

competitive answering 08 

complete answers 60 

statements 31 

complexity of questions 40 

conceited pupils 78 

conception 36 

conceptive faculty 35 

confidence 67, 80 

confident pupils 38 

confounding by questions 23 

connected questions 62 

series ._ 54 

thinking 35 

connection of questions 55 

conquest of tlie difficulty invigor- 
ates 21 

conscious existence of ideas 30 

consummate adroitness 22 

continuous effort 32 

thinking 21, 57 

conversational questioning 58 

converse questions 53 

convicting of ignorance 23 

correction of answers 70 

curiosity awakened 30 

cut-and-dried formulas 49 



Page 
cut-and-dried questions 31 

dealing with answers 75 

defective questions 58 

definite answers 33 

questions 38 

definiteness 37 

definitions 48, 09 

desultory questioning 63 

developing information 35 

questions 33 

devices in teaching 9, 10, 55 

must be changed 31 

dialogue im Fortunatus's purse... 24 

didactic teaching :i2 

difficulties simplified 14 

difficulty of ellipses 34 

of questioning, 10 

direct answers 07 

questions 44 

directness 39 

disciplinary power 12 

discipHne 78 

aided 20 

from questions 9, 07 

disconcerting pupils. 23 

the teacher 75 

discouraging children 11, 75 

discovery by the pupil 22 

of facts 20, 00 

discursive questions 57 

dishonesty 83 

disorder 78 

distinct tone 70 

distinctness 00, 81 

distribution of questions 68 

drawliu? manner 60 

drifting questions 39 

driving to a conclusion 23 

drowsiness 59 

dull-eyed 63 

dull manner 60 

pupils helped 12 

duller children 54, 02 

during the teaching 18 



INDEX 



87 



Page 

earlier Instruction 21 

ease in answering; 34 

easy and natural 59 

steps 33 

steps in analysis 21 

echo questions 42 

educative questions .16, 20 

effort demanded 33 

- — required ..42 

tlie thiufr needed 75 

elaboration of idea 40 

eliciting inferences 21 

ellipses 26-34 

defined 26 

like questions 34 

must be freshly framed 26 

not to be used exclusively 32 

used with questions 27 

embarrassing the pupil 60 

emphasis gives a clue 43 

to important points 19 

encouragement of children 

..31,60,63, 76 

end of the lesson 19 

energy of the mind directed 37 

essential matters 36 

exacting 59 

exactness in language 67 

— — of expression 36 

of thought 65 

examination questions. .16, 20, 21. 57 

exercise of mind 43 

expeditious questions 45 

experience defective 65 

— of children 51 

- — required 14 

experimental questions 16 

explanation 79 

expression of thought 51 

facts asked for 17 

fixed in the mind 19 

in relation to questioning..ll, 13 

known from one side 13 

familiarity with subject 52 

fault of the teacher 78 

faulty answers 77 



Page 

filling pauses 57 

finding out error for oneself 77 

Fitch q 24, .38, 43, 56. 80 

fixed models 52 

flagging class inspirited 36 

pupils 58 

foolish answers 75 

force of expression 36 

formalism 58 

forms of questioc s 37-63 

forward pupils 78 

pupils restrained 12 

framework for the child's 

thoughts 30 

framing questions 84 

frankness required 14 

freedom of conversation 58 

function of ellipses 26 

fussy and bustling 59 

gaining time 84 

gambling with words 70 

generals and particulars 14 

gestures give a clue 43 

giving too little information 23 

glib quoting of phrases 80 

"go" 36,61 

good answers 64-70 

judgment 14 

questioning rare 14 

grain from chaff 77 

group intelligent, members ig- 
norant 80 

guessing. 11, 33, 37, 38, 42, 46, 69, 70, 76 

encouraged 11 

how corrected 71 

hard questions 51 

harsh, snappish correction 59 

harshness 75 

haziness of conception 18, 65 

heaviness of manner 15 

heedlessness 72 

help given judiciously 23 

hesitancy of the teacher 15 

hesitation avoided 50 



88 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 



Page 

history of questioning 9 

holding up one hand 61 

honest mistalves 77 

how, use of 41 

hurry at the root of defects 68 

avoided 59 

ideas fixed 36 

illustration of ellipses S7 

in teaching 10 

illustrative questions 16, 20 

impatience 75, 82 

imperfect listening 72 

impossible answers 51 

inaccuracy of apprehension 18 

inattention 42, 72, 79, 82 

inattentive pupils 51, 61 

pupils challenged 13 

indirect questions 39 

indefiniteness 65 

iiidispensableness of questions — 10 

indisposition to effort 59 

individual effort 80 

indolence 66, 72 

of teacher 39 

indolent pupils first 12 

inertness 79 

inexact thought 73 

Inflection gives the clue 4;^, 44 

informality of ellipses 30 

information not expected 47 

put into the mind 20 

tested and impressed 19, 33 

ingeniousness 52 

injury by bad questioning 39 

inquiry started 45 

inquisitiveness 68 

insight of pupils 35 

instructive questions 16, 20 

intellectual activity 21 

effort 36, 46 

exercise 12 

sauntering 73 

training 80 

intelligence trained 21 

interdependence of facts 21 



Page 

interest in the work 86 

introduction 9 

ironical questions 22 

irrevelant matters 56 

questioning 39, 63 

jokes in the class-room 75 

judgment 51, 67 

exercised 44 

jumping at a conclusion 71 

kinds of questions 16-36 

know you are right 76 

knowledge 51 

of the pupils 14 

tested by questions 19, 20 

lack of effort 73 

language-training 31 

later instruction 21 

leading questions 43 

lecture teaching 10 

led out and led on 33 

lengthy statements 40 

lifting hands 68 

limit to use of ti'aining questions.. 20 

line of questioning 55 

linking information 55 

list of questions 55 

listening 83 

by the teacher 81 

listlessness 51 

live pupils 46 

logical connection of facts 21 

connection of ideas 36 

loitering 69 

loner leaps 58 

looking from all sides 53 

loose questions 39 

looseness of attention 73 

lower vs. higher classes 

21, 32, 33, 46, 50, 80 

marshalling facts 56 

means of unfolding information.. 9 
mechanical answering 5^ 



IN^DEX 



89 



Page 

aiechanical filling in 33 

repetition 83 

melodramatic air 59 

memory appealed to 35 

called upon 17 

vs. thouslit 66 

mental activity 22 

exercise 51 

• gaze directed 36 

quiclf-sightedness 14 

torpor 83 

methods varied CO 

minds of the scholars directed — 18 

minute classification 16 

mould of questions 52 

multiplicity of corrections 84 

mumbling answers 70 

naturalness 59 

neatness of expression 36, 67 

neglect of questioning 21 

neglecting dull children 63 

new knowledge 35 

"no answer plague " 73 

no direct reply 73 

exclusive method 60 

noise 80. 81 

in answering 31 

not a quick method 13 

easy and expeditious 21 

too easy 33 

nouns for verbs 73 

■objectionable questions 42-46 

objections against questions 11 

observation 35, 36, 51 

one answer only 37 

opening of lesson 17 

originality of wording 69 

Page q 44 

partial answers 66 

particular form of answer ex- 
pected 81 

(pauses 60 

perspective brought out 36 



Page 

Pestalozzi 9 

phases of Socratic method 22 

physical condition 79 

condition of class 52 

picking up answers 81 

Plato 22 

pleasantness 36 

pointed questions 39 

pompous methods 59 

power of apprehension 51 

practice on the part of the teacher.53 

• required 10 

preliminary questions 16, 45 

precise words expected 50 

pretentious phrases 68 

previous experience 35 

knowledge 47 

process of reasoning 50 

prompting 83 

promptness 34. 69 

province of questioning 10 

purposeless questioning 11,14 

purposes of questioning 35 

pupils question one another 63,79 

question the teacher 63, 79 

qualities and treatment of answers 

64-84 

of teaching tested 17 

question-and-answer books 9, 58 

asked before pupil named.... 91 

questioning a distinct method 60 

and answering reacts 64 

facts into 35 

facts out of 35 

is developing 33 

■ not an end 11 

questions and ellipses collected... 33 

beyond the child's powers 47 

for relaxation 63 

from statements for ellipses. .41 

including too much 47 

quick pupils 43 

to catch suggestions 43 

quickness 69 

quotations 69 



90 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 



Page 

rambling questions 57 

range of effort narrowed 37 

rapid analysis 13 

review 31 

rapidity 80 

of apprehension 36 

of questioning 45 

of reply 67 

rash pupils controlled 12 

statements 71 

readiness of expression — 15, 35, 65 

of resource 15 

of thought and speech 12 

to find ideas 64 

ready expression 36 

real point untouched 73 

reason for judgment 50 

of children 35 

reasonable difficulty 47 

time 69 

reasoning 35i 51 

reasons for conclusions 50 

reiteration 54 

recapitulation 19, 67, SO 

of work 36 

recapitulatory questions 16 

recklessness 71 

recollection 51 

re-expressing answer 68 

information 69 

refreshment 80 

rejection of answers 76 

relationship of facts 21. 58 

of ideas 36 

relief 31,80 

relying upon others 80 

remembrance 54 

repeating questions 53, 59, 83 

repetition 36, 80 

of questions 53, 59, SJ 

repression 78 

reproduction of facts learned 37 

retention 78 

retiring children 82 

review 36 

Richter q 13 



Pagk 

ridicule 71 

employed seldom 23 

ridiculous answers 74 

right idea shown 77 

reply required 77 

rising when answering 70 

roundabout methods 11 

questions , 15, 40, 41 

same children called upon 82 

sarcasm 76 

scientific laws 69 

scorn of the teacher 75 

scrambling through a lesson 83 

search for new facts 37 

self-criticism 78 

self-dependence 76 

sequence and connection 34 

series of questions 49, 50, 52, 55 

set patterns 52 

sham conversational plan bS 

mistakes 71 

short questions 40 

should answers be sentences? 66 

shouting 70 

show of work 80 

where to begin 18 

shyness 30 

silent uncertainty 77 

simultaneous answering 34, 79-81 

simple questions. 40, 50 

simplicity of wording 68 

sing-song tone 80 

skilful questioning 13 

skill in language 15 

slackness of mind 71 

slipshod questions 41 

slow manner 60 

sluggish pupils stimulated 12 

sluggishness 69 

sly pupils 39 

smart pupils 42 

smartness 80 

and movement 34 

snapplshness 76 

Socrates 9 



INDEX 



91 



Page 

Socrates dealt with adults 23 

Socratic method negative 23 

methods 59 

questioiiingr 22-26 

questions 10 

speculation encouraged 11 

speculative ansvi'ers 74 

spirited questions 59 

spontaneous ansvi'ers 76 

steps from one question to the 

next 58 

stereotyped phrases 70 

stickling over small points 84 

stimulating children 22, 36, 75, 80 

stilted and magisterial 59 

stolid look 02 

storing information 21 

Stow q 27, 32 

stupidity of children 58 

substance nf replies 81 

success dependent upon skill 22 

suggesting too much.. 33 

superficially 32, 4;'. 80 

sympathetic manner 58 

sympathy 7'5 

systematizing knowledge 54 

tact required 15 

teacher at fault 58 

deluded 80 

must guide and lead 23 

questioned by children 62 

should not answer 83 

teacher's work tested 18, 35 

teaching devices 9, 60 

how to reason 50 

new truths 80 

technical knowledge 48 

terms 40 

tediousness 60, 66 

of questioning 11, 12 

telling the child , 60 

tentative questions 16 

test of difficulties 51 

questions 16, 80 

testing vs. training 16-35 



Page 

thorough knowlegde 13 

thought 36 

vs. memory 66 

vs. rapid review 46 

thoughtful pupils 43 

thread of the lesson lost. 78 

Thringq 24,59,71,72 

timid children 82 

pupils encouraged 12 

tone of voice 60 

trained activity 71 

training pupils 36 

questions 20-25 

transformed ideas 65 

true dialogue 58 

truth and error mixed 65 

unequivocal questions 40 

unwholesome atmosphere 79 

use In early church 9 

vagueness 33, 37, 38, 71 

• in answering 65 ■ 

varied in difficulty 52. 

in form 52 

variety in answering 52 

of method 36 

verljiage 40 ' 

vigilance 34, 81: 

vivacity 58- 

vocabulary limited 65 

volunteering information 72, 73 

waste of time 41, 84: 

weak places strengthened IS 

weariness 79 

welding two questions into one. . .42 

what the pupil knows 35 

"what,"useof 41,67 

"when," use of 41 

"where," use of 41 

" which," use of 67 

child to call upon 61 

"whom," use of 67 

why brought into disrepute 11 

wide questions 39 ; 



92 



THE ART OF QUESTIONING 



Page 
word forms sometimes important. 69 

wordiiiff of questions 51 

words in the text avoided 53 

used in questions 58 

vs. ideas 53 

woven into teaching 60 

wrons' phrase substituted 73 



Page 
Xenophon 22 

yes-or-no questions ..44 

Young q 30, 38, 51, 67, 79 

zest • .59 



-THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.- 



The Art of Questioning. 

1. The AH of Putting Questions. By W. T. Young. Leatherette, ]6mo, 
pp. 65, 50 ots. The same in paper, 15 cts. 

The attention to this subject required by the syllabus of instruction for 
training chisses makes most timely the reproduction of this book, so long 
regarded as a standard but for many years allowed to pass out of print. 
The new edition Is rearranged, and in many ways made more convenient 
and better adapted to the needs of modern schools. The most marked 
oharaoteristlo of the author's style is his abundance of illustrations. At 
(he end are 57 questions for correction, with answers in which the faults of 
each question are pointed out, and the correct form given. This feature is 
of immediate practical value. 

From many commendations received we quote the following: 
A simple and practical essay in pedagogy. — Wis. .Journal of Education, 
This is. a new edition of a useful little manual of suggestions as to an 
art which lies near the root of educational success. It has been revised by 
Mr. Bardeen himself. — The Independent. 

The fault with the majority of pupils is that they do not think enough. 
Teachers are prone to make poll-parrots of them, teaching them only by 
rote, to repeat what is taught them, whereas all examinations and all ques- 
tioning of any nature whatsoever should be such as would cause pupils to 
evolve information and gain knowledge. This desideratum depends on the 
methods of the teacher, and such desirable methods this book endeavors to 
inculcate. — Evening Herald, Binghamton, N. Y. 

2. The Art of Questioning. By Sir Joshua G. Fitch, Inspector of 
Schools, England. Paper, 16mo, pp. 36, 15 cts. 

This has long been one of the pedagogical standards recognized as of 
immediate practicable help to teachers. Among a multitude of testimonials 
we quote the following from The Christian Register: 

" :\Ir. Fitch, who is happily inside his subject and as clear as a bell, 
divides teachers' questions into three kinds: Those which help the instruc- 
tor to measure the knowledge of the pupil, — experiment ; those which com- 
pel the pupil to do his own X,\\\n]i\n^,— instruction ; and those which test 
the result, — examination. By precept and example, he shows how a teacher 
may develop interest, may connect new knowledge with what has already 
been attained, may stimulate mental action and put a living spirit into the 
exercLses. " 

^"This monograph of Sir Joshua Fitch's is published together with 
his "Art of Securing Attention", Huntington's "Unconscious Tuition", 
and Buckham's " First Steps for Young Teachers ", all in one volume known 
as "The Teacher's Mentor'', Xo. 9 of the Standard Teachers' Library. 
Price in Cloth $1.00; in Manilln, .^0 cts. 

C. W. B^KDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. 



-STAXDARD TEACHERS- LIBRARY, Ko. 51. 



Laiidoii's School Management. 

This standard work, by Joseyli Landon, lecturer on school management 
in the training college, Saltley, England, gives a general view of educa- 
tion, with some account of the Intellectual Faculties from the teacher's 
point of view, Organization, Discipline, and Moral Training. 

It is at once scientific and practical; it gives the bearing of the facts of 
psychology upon the work of the teacher, and deals particularly with or- 
ganization and discipline, while at the same time it contains a great many 
iints upon actual teaching, making it a complete and helpful manual. 

The chapters are as follows: 

Part I. General View of the Work of Education. 

1. The meaning and scope of education. 

2. Three lines of educational development. 

3. Some lessons to be learned from a brief consideration of sensation, 
perception, conception, and attention. 

4. Memory in education. 

5. The cultivation of the imagination, judgment, and reason. 

6. The school work of the teacher. 

Part II. Organization. 

1. Systems of organization. 

2. The school and its appointments. 

3. The classification of the children. 

4. The qualifications, duties, and distribution of teachers. 

5. The arrangement of time and subjects. 

6. The apparatus and books. 

7. Registration. 

Part III. Discipline and Moral Training. 

1. The use of the emotions in education, and their cultivation. 

2. General moral and religious training. 

3. The government of children — school tactics. 

4. Motives, and the training of the will. 

5. The nature and uses of punishment. 

It has been adopted as a text-book in the school of pedagogy, Syracuse 
university, and in manj- of the largest normal schools in the country. The 
author has positive views, and illustrates them from actual experience, so 
that the book gives the teacher much food for thought, as well as direct in- 
struction. For class use and for the teacher preparing for examination, it 
has no equal. It is a modern book, giving the latest views of leading au- 
thorities with the author's comments, and is adapted to the school wants of 
to-day. The chapters upon school discipline and moral training are of 
especial value as being in line with the most recent thought and the most 
approved practice. 

16mo, pp. 400. Manilla 50 cts.; Cloth Sil.26. 

C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. 



-STAXDARD TEACnERS' LIBRARY. Xo. 7- 



X 




DeGrraffs Scliool-Rdom Griiide. 

■\VlKit t''.-r.- i- in l'iN>l'. DeGnilT's method of presentation tliiit so ivaelies 
,.^-— ,..,„^^ and holds the young ;e!ichfcr, it inisiht 

/ "*». Ije hard to say : but he has never liad 

his equal as an institute instructor ia 
the inspiration he gave ; and superin- 
tiiidents everywhere agree that where 
"I her books are bouglit and put away, 
the "School-Room Guide" is bought 
ind kept on the desk, for daily use. 
Some books are recommended because 
it is creditable to own them ; this is 
recommended by those who know it 
because it will help. It is significant 
that this was one of the three books 
selected by the Examination Board of 
the State of New York as one of the three upon which all Uniform and 
State Examinations in Methods and School Economy should be based for 
the \ear 1895, ««</ that it was unanimously readopted for 1896. 

It is just what its name implies, a real guide to school-room work.— 
Practical Teacher. 

We do not know of any other book that contains so much help for a 
youns teacher, or an old one for that matter, as this. — 117s. Journal of 
Education. 

The striking point in the work is the practical sense of it. Showy 
niethods and visionary schemes get no toleration in these pages.— /%« 
Independent. 

We cannot say too much in praise of this book. It contains just the 
very hints that the progressive teacher needs every day. We do not think 
that a teacher who loves his work and desires to excel can afford to do 
without DeGraff's Guide.— JV. C. Teacher. 

It is not a mere collection of rules and formulas to be followed implicit- 
ly and automatically by every teacher alike, but is rather a series of hints 
.and suggestions well calculated to assist the teacher to think and desire 
new methods for himself or herself. It were well for our schools if this 
book were used by every teacher. — Public Opinion. 

This volume is designed to be a irractical one. It contains suggestions 
on every subject that comes usually within the work of the common scliool 
teacher. It discusses the various methods used in teaching the difl'enuit 
subjects and presents what is thought to be the best. The plan used in 
treating any given subject is to give an introduction followed by several 
lessons, explicit directions as to what is to be done, cautions to be observed 
.and results to be obtained. It is just such a manual as every teacher needs. 
— Educational Journal of Va. 

Complete Index just added. 16mo. pp. 405. IMauilla, 50 cts.. Cloth, *I..50_ 

C. W. BARDEEN, Publisliei-, Syracuse, N. Y. 



OPINIONS OF DEGRAFF S SCHOOL-ROOM GUIDE 

No book in our library is more highly prized than DeGraff's SchooU 
Room Guide.— Mary Allen West, Galesburg, 111. 

Simple, minute, practical, it enters more into detail than most books of 
its "kind.— Ohio Educational Monthly. 

It brings out the most interesting and philosophical methods of pre- 
senting subjects for instruction. — Intelligence, Chicago, 111. 

I think it the best work of the kind that has been contributed to our 
school catalogue, and shall take pleasure in commending it. Its practical 
discussion of methods meets a school-room want that is met by no other 
book known to me. — IF. K. Pendleton, State Superintendent, West Va. 

Whether treating of reading, arithmetic, history or any other theme, 
the author offers pregnant hints and suggestions that can hardly fail to be 
useful, especially to those just beginning to teach. One cannot read many 
pages of the work without seeing that it is both practical and useful.— 7"^^ 
Critic. 

We know of no other book on the subject that has attained the popu- 
larity of this one. We remember the first reading of this book soon after 
it was published. We do not know where else the earnest teacher could get 
so much of practical value within the same compass. Any teacher who- 
can have but one book should have this Guide. It differs from others in the 
fact that this is a volume sure to be consulted iu a moment of perplexity, 
while others are read and laid aside and perhaps forgotten. We like to com- 
mend a good book, and this is a good one. We want a thousand Courant 
readers to buy it. We do uot need to advise them to use it, they are sure to- 
do that when once they have seen it. — Educational Courant. 

I have read many other books for teachers, and this is the best one I 
have ever seen. I have never known a teacher who had read it uot to com- 
mend it highly. The book does not present theory in teaching and leave 
the reader in doubt as to what is to be done iu practice; it tells hoio to 
teach primary reading, spelling, phonics, letter writing; how to give les- 
sons on objects: and more than a hundred other topics, directions, and cau- 
tions are stated in a clear and concise manner. For young teachers and 
those who wish to become teachers it is especially valuable for high school 
work. I have no hesitation in saying that if a teacher can have but one 
book to obtain help in school work that book should be DeGraff's School 
Room Guide.— C. A. Lewis, High School, Syracuse, N. Y. 

Few books have met with more public favor as this, there probably not 
being a county in the United States where it is not known and valued. 
For years this book has been on the desk for ready reference, while more 
pretentious works were laid away and forgotten. Its matter and arrange- 
ment are evidence that its popularity is deserved. The methods of instruc- 
tion are carefully analyzed and directions given. There are no indulgences 
in discussions of abstract psychological points, as is too often the case, but 
plain, reasonable, yet scientific and careful presentation of the method 
which ought to be followed. School management is ably treated, and sug- 
gestions given which will materially lessen the labor in the school-room. 
— Education. 



-STANDARD TEACHERS' LIBRARY, No. 3- 




Page's Theory anJ Practice of TeacMi. 

No otLor Americau book on teacliiug has so much claim us this to be 
considered a classic. For lu'iirly fifty 
years it has been rcgardt'd almost uni- 
versally as the one book the young 
teaclier would most profit by. A hun- 
dred thousand teachers have drawn 
help and inspiration from its pa<;es. 

It seems only just to the author of a 
work so successful that his book should 
be printed just as he wrote it. The day 
is past when commentators re-write 
Shakspere. Tliey may annotate and 
explain and conjecture, but tiiey take 
the text as they find it, and print their 
observations in another type. This 
book has been less fortunate. In different editions since Mr. Page's death 
elm liters have been added, details have been changed, passages have been 
entirely rewritten. 

This volume goes back to the book that Mr. Page published, and fol- 
lows word for word the text of the only edition he ever authorized. Where 
the times have changed and we in them, references to present conditions 
are given in the notes that follow, which will be found of great value as 
illustrating how different in many respects is the environment of teaching 
now from what it was half a century ago, while yet the teacher's difficul- 
ties are largely the same, and his failure or his success depends upon the 
same fundamental principles. These notes are also in some part explana- 
tory and historical, with portraits of Page, Mann, Colburn, Emerson, Pot- 
ter[ Wadsworlh, and Olmsted. There are also a biography of Mr. Page and 
a full topical index for review. 

In short this is so much the best edition issued, that even those who al- 
ready have another edition can afford to throw that aside and use this alone. 
The following are among the commendations it has received : 
" This work has so long been recognized as one of the great educational 
classics that comment here is unnecessary, except to say that Mr. IJar- 
deen's latest edition is especially well printed and has a fine full-page por- 
trait of its great author.— /!?'< Education.''' 

" While it is one of the oldest books on teaching puljlished in this coun- 
try none of its successors surpass it in its high ideal of the teacher's life 
and work, which is held constantly in view. The true spirit of the teacher 
breatlies in every line, and it is a continual source of guidance and inspira- 
tion to all who would realize the most fruitful results in this noble and 
responsible vocation. It should Ije the first book studied by every teacher, 
and should be his constant companion at all times." — ■School Fornin. 

C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y, 



-THE HCHOOL BVLLETIN PUBLICATIONS.- 



Helps ill Child Study. 

1. A Working System of Child Studyfor Schools. By Maximilian P. 
E. Groszmann, Pd.D,, late superiiiteudeiit of the Ethical Culture Schools, 
New York. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 70. 50cts. 

This is a practical manual, giving the system actually employed at 
these well-known schools, with the blanks used, and many specimen re- 
ports from the flies of the school. Reasons are given for the methods em- 
ploj'ed, and illustrations of the advantages derived. In a subject just now 
so overlaid with sentimentality by some of its advocates, it is refreshing to 
find a clear, sensible, practical description of work actually done. 

2. The First Three Years of Childhood. I5y B. Perez, with an intro- 
dMetion by Prof. Sully. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 295. $1.50. 

This is of such general interest that it is included by the American 
Library Association in the list of books to be contained in every library. 

"The first four chapters deal with tlie faculties before birth, the motor 
activities from the beginning of life till fifteen months, giving full and dis- 
tinct examples under each period of development. Then the first percep- 
tions, instincts, and sentiments are taken up. From chapter vi. to chapter 
xii. are given the intellectual tendencies. Chapter xii. is devoted to the 
aesthetic, and xiii. to the moral sense. Many of M. Perez's illustrations are 
from children under his own observation, but to these he adds examples 
from the observations of other scientists and psychologists who have kept 
records of their children's early years. Tiedemann, Sigismund, Sabish, 
Darwin, Professor Preyer, M. Tayne, are among the fathers quoted. From 
these he borrows no theories, but gives only the fruits of their real experi- 
ence. * * * * The order and the method of this book are thoroughly 
scientific, the language simple, and the style bright and interesting. After 
reading it one feels much better aciiuainted with the mysterious world of 
infancy through which we have all passed, but of which we have retained 
so little memory. — The Evangelist. 

3. TiedemamVs Record of Infant Life. An English version of the 
French translation and commentary of B. Perez. Paper, 16mo, pp. 46. 
1.-) cts. 

This English version was made by F. Louis Soldan, superintendent of 
schools, St. Louis, who says: " This essay is remarkable both ou account of 
its contents and of the influence which its publication In Prance has had 
on tlie study of childhood. It is a reproduction of a little work by a Ger- 
man writer which, I think, was written about 100 years ago, but was com- 
pletely forgotten until a French translation of it appeared in 1863, in the 
.Toiirnal General de V Instruction Publique, by Mr. Jlichelan. This transla- 
tion attracted much attention, and seems to have given the first impulse to 
a number of most remarkable monographs on the development of child- 
hood." 

C. W. BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, ]V. Y. 



■ THE SCUOOL BULLETiy PUBLICATION'S.- 



Helps toward Correct Speech. 

1. Verbal Pitfalls: a manual cf 1500 words commonly misused, includ- 
ing all those the use of which in any sense has been questioned by Dean 
Alvord, a. W. Moon, Fitzedward Hall, Archbisliop Trencli, Wni 0. Hodgson, 
W. L. Blackley, G. F. (iraham, Richard Grant White, M. Scheie de Vere, Wra. 
Mathews, " Alfred Ayrcs," and many others. Arransred alphalietically, with 
3000 references and quotations, and the ruling of the dictionaries. By C. W. 
Bardeen. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 2-s!3. 75 cts. 

Pei-haps the happiest feature of the book is its interesting form. Some 
hundreds of anecdotes have been gathered to illustrate the various points 
made. The.se have the advantage not only of making the work entertain- 
ing, but of fixing the point in the mind as a mere precept could not do. The 
type indicates at a glance whether the use of a word is (1) indefensible, (2) 
defensible but objectionable, or (3) thoroughly authoriz(<l. 

2. Orthoepy Made Faxtj. A Royal Road to Correct Pronunciation. By 
M. W. Hall. Cloth, IGmo, pp. 103. 75 cts. 

Everyone remembers the queer s?:ibboleths of culture in the paragraph 
beginning " A sacrilegious son of Belial," that has been the rounds of the 
newspapers. This book is made up of 38 such exercises, all of them ingen- 
ious and many of them amusing, each followed by a key to the difficult 
words. Bishop Vincent says : " I take great pleasure in testifying to the ex- 
ceeding value of the little volume ; ' Orthoepy Made Easy.' The l)(K)k is a 
sensible, practical text-book for the purpose intended. I congratulate you 
on having produced it, and I wish you success in its wide circulation." 

S. Practical Phonics. A com.prehensive study of Pronunciation, form- 
ing a complete guide in the study of elementary sounds of the Enplis^h Lan- 
guage, and containing 3000 words of difficult pronunciation, with diacritical 
marks according to Webster's Dictionary. By E. V. DeGraff. Cloth, 16mo, 
pp. 108. 75 cts. 

" The book before us is the latest, and in many respects the best, of the 
manuals prepared for this purpose. The directions for teaching elementary 
sounds are remarkably explicit and simple, and the diacritical marks are 
fuller than in any other book we know of, the obscure vowels being marked, 
as well as the accented ones. This manual is not like others of the kind, a 
simple reference book. It is meant fur careful study and drill, and is es- 
pecially adapted to class use."— A'^^y England Journal of Education. 

h. Pocket Pronunciation Boole, containing the 3,000 words of difBcult 
pronunciation, with diacritical marks according to Webster's Dictionary. 
By E. V. DeGraff, Manilla, IGmo, pp. 47. 15 cts. 

5. Studies in Articulation : a study and drill-book in the Alphabetic Ele- 
ments of the English language. Fifth thou.mnd. By J. H. Hoose. Cloth, 
16mo, pp. 70. 50 cts. 

" Dr. Hoose's * Studies m Articulation ' is the most useful manual of the 
kind that I know of. It should be a text-book in ever:' Teacher's Institute." 
~A. J. PicT;off,form.e7'ly Su]iH of Schools at Cleveland and at Tonkers. 

6. Hints on Teaching Orthoepti. By Chas. T. Pooler. Paper, 16mo, pp. 
15. 10 cts. 

7. Question Book of Orthoriraphy, Orthoepy, and Etymology, with Notes, 
Queries, etc. By Albert P. Sol'thwick. Paper, 16mo, pp. 40. 10 cts. 

C. W. BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. 



THE ST AND ART) TEAOTTERS' LTBRART, iVb. 9. 

The Teacher's Mentor. 

This volume contains four famous manuals for teachers, IJuckham's 
" First Steps in Teaching ", nuntin<;ton's " Unconscious Tuition ", Fitch's 
" Art of Questioning ", and Fitch's " Art of Securing Attention ". It may- 
be safely said that uo single volume ever published will do more to assist 
andtoinspire. It is a volume of 274 pages. Price in cloth $1.00; inmaniUa, 
50 cts. 

Of BucKHAM's " First Steps", the following testimony will indicate 
the recognized importance. 

It is a work of great value to the young and Inexperienced teacher. It 
discusses the principles of the teacher's art in a manner which is at once 
simple and practical, without attempting to give a metaphysical discussion 
of them.— President W. J. Milne, New York State Normal College, 

Admirably adapted to direct and help young teachers in organizing and 
managing a school. It is full of plain, pointed, and practical suggestions. 
* * * For the use I have spoken of I do not know of its equal. — Principal 
F. B. Palmer, Fredonia Normal. 

If there be another book to compare with it in practical usefulness we 
have not seen xt.— Public School Journal. 

A model of condensation and hard sense, and a thoroughly trustworthy 
guide for the beginners in educational work. — Iowa JVormal Monthly. 

Its chapters of suggestions on specific points make this little manual a 
priceless vade mecmn for all inexperienced teachers. — N. C. Advocate. 

It is simple, it is practical, it is suggestive, it is wonderfully minute in 
detail. In short, it anticipates all the difficulties likely to be encountered, 
and gives the beginner the counsel of an older friend. — Utica Herald. 

Of Huntington's " Unconscious Tuition", A. E. Frye, the well-known 
teacher and author, says : " I wish something might be done to bring it to 
the knowledge of teachers every where. It is the first book to init into the 
hands,head,an.dheart of every young teacher. I know of no gift of equal 
value to bestow upon a young person undertaking the instruction of little 
children." The Ohio Educational Monthly sa,ys : " There is nothing finer 
in the whole range of pedagogic literature." 

Of Fitch's " Akt op Questioning ", the Christian Register says : " Mr. 
Fitch, who is happily inside his subject, and clear as a bell, divides teach- 
ers' questions into three kinds : those which help the instructor to measure 
the knowledge of his pupil, — ex2ieri7nent ; those which compel the pupil to 
do his own thinking, — instrziction ; and those which test this result, — exam' 
ination. By precept and example he shows how a teacher may develop 
interest, may connect new knowledge with what has already been attained, 
may stimulate mental action, and put a living spirit into the exercises." 

Fitch's " Art of Securing Attention " is equally bright, interesting, 
and stimulating, giving the teacher just the help needed to inspire life and 
vigor in the class-room. 

C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. 



-STANDARD TEACHERS' LIBRARY. Xo. 35- 




Quick's Ediicatioiial Eeformers. 

Its vivacious style makes this the most entertaining; of books for 
teachers. Dr. Wm. T. Harris says : " I 
have called this book of Mr. Quick the 
most valuable history of education in 
our mother-tongue." We are glad to 
present it in new dress, worthy of its 
merits. 

This new edition is a careful reprint 
of the original London edition with the 
following additions: 

(I) Mr. Quick's Pedagogical Auto- 
biography, written for the Educational 
Review, and used here by permission. 

{•i) The chapter on Froebel, written 
by Mr. Quick for the Encyclopiodia Britannica. 

(3) Portraits, including the following: 

Arnold Goethe Montaigne 

Ascham Jacotot Pestalozzi 

Basedow Kant Quick 

Colet Lavater Rousseau 

Comenius Lode Spencer 

Fellenburg Loyola Sturm 

Froebel Milton Tobler 

(4) Illustrations, including the following: 

F'acsimile page from one of Mr. Quick's letters. Facsimile page from 
*ne of Pestalozzi's manuscripts, with notes in theliandwritingof Ramsauer, 
Jv'iederer, Tobler, and Kriisi. Janua Linguarum, 3 facsimile pages. Orbis 
Pictus, 2 facsimile pages. Pestalozzi's birth-place at Zurich. Views of 
Stanz, Burgdorf, Yverdun, and the schoolhouse at Birr, with Pestalozzi's 
Memorial. The well-known picture of Ascham and Lady Jane Grey. 

(5) Translations of all the passages in French, German, Latin, and 
Greek, with which the book abounds. 

These added translations are put at the bottom of the page and are 
indicated by numbers. In the chapter on Rousseau, the quotations in 
F'rench make nearly as much matter as the English, so that the chapter 
might well serve for an exercise in learning French by parallel translation 
after the methods of Ratich. Locke, or Jacotot. 

(6) Side-heads, giving the substance of the paragraph. 

(7) Additional notes, always in brackets. 

(8) An inde.v much extended. 

IBmo, pp. 420. Price postpaid in Manilla oOcts. ; in Cloth, $1.0*. 

€. W. BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. 



OPINIONS OF quick's EDUCATIONAL REFORMERS 

Tliis is imotlior book of the series whicli has made this "Standard 
Library" a possibility for teachers. There is nothing new to be said of 
this noted book, except to commend the enterprise of the publisher in send- 
ing out this series, and the wholly satisfactory manner of its publication.— 
Primary Education. 

No book upon educational men or measures has had such a sale as 
Quick's " Educational Reformers." No book has been so universally used 
in reading circles. This makes it a genuine public benefit to have it repub- 
lished in good form at a low price. Jlr. IJardeen is the American specialist 
in the reproduction of foreign pedagogical works. At $1.00 for the cloth 
edition, and 50 cts. in paper, this reprint must find ready and enormous sale 
in the reading circle fields. This has, in addition to the original London 
edition of 1868, Mr. Quick's pedagogical autobiography, and his chapter on 
Froebel. Also upwards of twenty jiortraits of the educational leaders of ye 
olden time, with many valuable fac-simile pages of letters. — N. E. J. of E'dn. 

I can very warmly commend to all teachers the little book published by 
C. VV. Bardeen of Syracuse — Quick's "Educational Reformers." It is an 
excellent illustration of what may be compressed into a single volume, as 
well as an excellent illustration of great skill in condensation. It is one 
of those hand-books which contain much more than mere information. It 
is certainly' stimulating and helpful towards all sound educational thought 
and activity. It ought to be on the list of every Teachers' Reading Circle 
in this country.— ^^ame« H. Canjield, Chancellor University of Ohio. 

This new edition of Educational Reformers, issued by Mr. Bardeen, is a 
great improvement over the previous ones and is a first-class specimen of 
book-making in every particular. At this late day, after the profession has 
accepted Mr. Quick's book as a classic, no comments upon his work are 
needed. This edition, we understand, has been prepared especially for the 
Ohio State Teachers' Reading Circle. It is a careful reprint of the original 
London edition, and has a great deal of new matter added, including Mr. 
Quick's pedagogical biography, an article on Froebel written by Mr. Q,uick 
for the Enoyclopa'dia Britannica, a great number of illustrations and por- 
traits, translations from all the quotations from foreign languages in the 
book, and other matter for the benefit of the reader. Every teacher ought 
to have this book in his library. — The Inland Educator. 

C. ^V'. Bardeen in his 1896 publication of the Reading Circle Edition of 
Quick's " Educational Reformers " offers a book which has all the worth of 
the original London Edition, the added charm of almost a personal inter- 
view with the author, and a letter warm from the master's hand. Tlie fac- 
simile pages of letters, manuscripts, and notes, the portraits of reformers, 
and i)ictures of places celebrated in educational history, make a most fas- 
cinating book. The original edition without all these arts of the skilled 
later day publishers, made in the 80's a winter enjoyable though spent on 
a prairie. To what heights will not the teacher be lifted who penetrates by 
means of these attractive pages to the very soul of these great educators, 
and there learns both theory and practiae.— Popular Educator. 



-TBE SCHOOL BULLETIN' PUBLICATIONS.- 




History of Modern Education. 

The Ih • ■ Unilern Education. An account of Educational Opinion 

and Practice from the Revival of Learn- 

,--' ~^ ins to the Present Decade. By Samuel 

/ G. Williams, Ph.D., Professor of the 

' Science and Art of Teachinf? in Cornell 

University. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 499. With 

37 Portraits. $1.50. 

This is a revised and enlarged edition 
of what was upon its first appearance 
altogether the fullest and most com- 
plete history of modern education now 
available. It is tlie only adequate prep- 
aration for examinations, and a neces- 
sary part of every teacher's working- 
library. 

The titles of the chapters will give some idea of its comprehensiveness. 
Those in italics appear for the first time in this revised edition. 

Introductory. Valuable contrityutions to iKdagogy from ancient days. I. 
Preliminaries of modei-n education. II. The Renaissance, and some inter- 
esting phases of education in the 16th century. III. Educational opinions- 
of tlie ICth century. IV. Distinguished teachers of the IGth century, 
IMeliuichthon, Sturm, Trotzendorf, Meander, Ascham, Mulcaster, the Jesu- 
its. V. Some characteristics of education in the 17th century. VI. Princi- 
ples of the educational reformers. VII. The 17th century reformers. VIII. 
Female education and Fenelon. IX. The Oratory of Jesus. Beginnings of 
American education. X. Characteristics of education in the 18th century. 
XI. Important educational treatises of the 18th century: Rollin, Rousseau, 
Kant. XII. Basedow and the Philanthropinic experiment. XIII. Pesta- 
lozzi and his work. XIV. General review of education in the ISth century, 
XV. Educational characteristics of the I9th century. XVI. Extension of 
liopular education. XVII. Eroebel and the kindergarten. XV'III. Professional 
training of teachers, and school supervision. XIX. Manual and industrial 
training. XX. Improvements in methods of instruction. XXI. Discussion of 
relative value of studies. 

There are also added an Analytic Appendix, for review ; the Syllabus 
on the History of Education prepared by the Department of Public Instruc- 
tion for tlie training classes of the State of New York, with references by 
page to this volume ; and an Index of 13 double column pages, much fuller 
than in the first edition. 

The Critic calls it, " sensible in its views, and correct and clear in style." 
The American Journal of Education says: "It is not too much to say that 
for all ordinary purposes Prof. Williams's book is in itself a much more val- 
uable pedagogical library than could be formed with it omitted." 

C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. 



OPINIONS OF WILLIAMS S HISTORY 

It ia the fullest, most complete, and most satisfactory-work we have on the 
SVLbject.—Edvcational Cot/rant, Sept., 1892. 

It presents the salient features, is interesting and valuable.— .SV/>/(/flj 
School Journal, March, 1893. 

Believing it to be the best book of its kind, I shall use it in my classes.— 
Prof. IF. M. iJ/ai /'.Normal Department, Salem College, W. Va., Nov. 21,1892 

This book is better adapted to our use than any other we have found.— 
Principal f. C. Bovhih, New Hampshire State Normal School, Oct. 12, 1892. 

The volume is one of decided value, and is a miniature cyclopaedia of 
historical facts dating from the Eenaissance. — Keic York TIwW, Aug. 27, 1892 

Sensible in its views, and correct and clear in style. Prof. Williams's book 
Is well worthy of a place in educational literature.— T/^e Critic, Sept. 10, 1S92. 

A book worthy to take its place in the teacher's library alongside of 
•Quick, Compayre, and Gill. — Western School Journal, Feb., 1893. 

It is not too much to say that for all ordinary purposes Prof. Williams's 
book is in Itself a much more valuable pedagogical library than could be 
formed with it omitted. — American Journal of Education, Sept., 1892. 

Throughout the book the author shows good sense in his judgment of 
men and methods; and, what is no small merit in the present age, he is 
■entirely free from hobbies. — Science, Aug. 26, 1892. 

The title of this book can scarcely suggest the rich and varied interest 
of the materials which it includes. It sums up for us the story of educa- 
tional methods and systems in all countries, from the middle ages down to 
the present time. — Review of Reviews, Oct., 1892. 

I have received a copy of Williams's History of Modern Education, and 
having read three chapters I see it must be added to our library. Please 
«end us two copies more. — Principal IT'. E. Wilson, R. I. State Normal 
School, Nov. 15, 1892. 

The author's style is clear and readable, his criticisms without color, 
* * and the impression in our mind after perusal is that the author is not 
only one who /t«OMi/?, but one whose thoughts and conclusions are worthy 
of T^s^eat.— Popular Educator, Nov., 1892. 

It is a wonderful book for conciseness — a veritable miiltuin in parvo, and 
atill the narrative style is so constantly maintained that it reads more like 
A story than an encyclopaedia. It is both in one.— Principal O. D. Rolnmon, 
Albany High School, March 15, 1893. 

The outlook over the subject is broad, the views in many instances fresh, 
and the interpretation penetrating. The work is especially valuable as 
being at once comprehensive and compact, covering the whole ground, 
with each movement or phase of progress given in its due proportion.— 
Evangelist, Oct. 20, 1892. 

His method of treating the subject is eminently happy. The salient points 
of the history of education in that period are clearly indicated, and the as- 
cending curve of progress is sketched through them. Dr. Williams's style 
is delightful. Every teacher will be at odp«- oleased and instructed by a 
.perusal of the book. — Public Opinion. 



School Bulletin Publications 



NOTE.— Binding is indicated as follows : B hoards, C clolh, L leatherette, 
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binding and size give the pages in the Trade Sale catalogue of 1898 on which 
the books are described, the fullest description being placed first. Books 
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B(.)oks starred may be had also in the Standard Teachers" Library, 
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binding, such volumes are always sent in cloth. 

A DAY of aiy Life, or Everyday Exj^enences at Eton. 15 C 10:184. ... $1 00 
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Education. 
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